Last Tales of the Broken

Can't You Hear the Onesong?

Long lines of people walked along the streets of Seattle. Each street corner looked extraordinarily clean, perfect angles with no trash and no stains at all. Not a single weed grew at all.

Each person walked in almost perfect unison. Each of their left hands glowed with the blue light of their digitizenship, connecting their minds with the super-hifi wireless networks of Tomorrow-Shinzui.

Off and around one corner, the Space Needle pierced the sky. Construction covered it, and it looked like it was growing taller and taller. Blue lights thrummed from it, each flash happening at the same moment as every human’s heart beat or footstepped. Most of them belonged to the Weaver now.

“Its almost time, I think,” Dante told Eric. Every member of the Robot Lords had faked digitizenship of their own, but without the Onesong they had to rely on their Totem and fetishes to keep from giving themselves away. “Tomorrow-Shinzui has almost completed that thing on the Space Needle. We target that.”

The ahroun nodded. “We needed a distraction too, I think. The Nuwisha might have some ideas, but I think we need more than a explosion or three.”

“What are you thinking of then, Alpha?”

“You’ve seen those files that Tomorrow-Shinzui has on that Sept we screwed over? We send them a bunch of them, on the down low. You might even give them a call. Tell them about Daniel MacPherson and where all the Garou, Ratkin and Corax are being held. They might just go create a distraction with that. Besides, we aren’t going to have the time to free all of them when we blow the Weaver’s Spire. We need to be able to focus on that before the Wyrm’s forces try and pulverize downtown Seattle.”

“Okay, I give them a try. But the Broken might not want to listen to me right away. Especially that four-legger.”

“Sure, they are justified in that. I’d want to kill us too, if I knew what we were up to. Just do it and put on your charms and get it over with.”

“Allright.” Dante sighed. He pulled out a pair of smartglasses and started a call or two…

Dramatis Personae

Scene

Rorg confronts Luna when she blocks his way to Gaia...

The Great Hunter, Rorg, howled his dismay at Sohkta. The Aspect of Luna held him back, keeping his great talons- the hundreds of asteroids that comprised him- from drifting into the Penumbra.

He roared.

“Let me by! I must strike now! The Wyrm is coiled, it prepares to Awaken! That Machine is already binding the world about itself! LET ME BY! IT IS TIME TO STRIKE!”

The Lunar spirit cried in pain as Rorg struck at her. The two became entangled, fighting and slashing at one another. The Aetherial Realm rumbled and rattled as their battle began.

Meanwhile, in the physical realm, in the depths of space, thousands of tiny meteors pummeled into the Moon’s surface. The dark side of the Moon went up in a dust cloud that surrounded it, giving the moon a dark streak in the sky.

Weylyn stands up to speak...

“I didn’t know my cousin for very long, but in the time I knew him, I can say that I have been impressed! At first, I was completely in awe, and probably a bit of a crazed fan over the fact that he wield THE Fearsome Klaive. Anyone who would be worthy of wielding that surely was more a badass than even me!

“When we got separated from my brother and the rest of his pack, I got a brief chance to talk to Ludwig. In that short time, the words on the pages of his epic story wrote themselves in my mind. He told me of how he lived isolated for most of his life, held in seclusion by agents of the Weaver who managed to keep him even from Uncle Burning-Howl’s sight. He was fed lies for every meal, and never came to know anything of his heritage or about life as a Garou whatsoever. He took control of his own destiny the moment he had his first change; he killed the Weaver-spawn, took the Fearsome Klaive, and set out determined to live his life his way.

“As well he should! I couldn’t imagine what I’d be like if I hadn’t been brought up as a Garou, but I imagine that I would have had absolutely no clue what to do with myself after finding my freedom. He was brought into our world – the world of Gaia’s warriors – a world that expected he would already know their ways. He was always left with questions not answered, and still lied to by his mentor…who ended up being his own grandfather!

“Yet the man who was born Lachlan MacPherson took control of his own destiny. Those who held him captive gave him the name “Ludwig”, and he decided he would own that name. He told me that his ‘family’ was dead the moment he killed them; he never knew what a real family was – what the MacPhersons were.

“Our society placed laws on him that weren’t his. He was told that he was to be a Philodox…who are supposed to uphold our laws and our ways, but without answers to his questions, he was never going to be able to fill that role. Hell, I think he would have been a far better Ahroun! He fought every fight he entered with a ferocity and dedication that I never knew from anyone else! He protected his only friend with everything he had, despite being held back by the rules of a society he was forced into. She was his family…and now she is without him because he gave everything for a cause he would never understand. He gave his life to save so many; his pack who he was always at odds with, his Sept who didn’t know how to rear him, his best friend who well should have been his mate and mother to a generation blessed to have his blood, and….

“…to save me, someone he didn’t even know.

“I learned all of this from just a short while being in Ludwig’s presence. I wish that I had longer to drink with him…to fight with him…to die fighting in glorious battle with him. I know that I will be forever grateful to Ludwig for giving me the chance to live and fight another day. I feel like he passed his legacy on to me, in a way. It will be me who will face down the Wyrm when the Apocalypse comes, and I will HOPE I can die as gloriously as he did. I will live more by his example, because Ludwig was a man of TRUE strength.

Beware, there be Soybeans here...

Before the pack departs to re-make the Moon Bridge with the Children of Gaia Sept in Portland, the Sept holds a small moot to discuss ongoing problems before Packs depart on their own business. A mysterious new characters arrive hearing word of Burning-Howl’s return. When the Broken leave to travel through the Umbra, they find trouble of a familiar, Black Spiral kind…

Dramatis Personae

Scene: Sept Business

Having created a new Rite to help with moving animals into the Caern of the Phoenix, Slays and the Broken find some measure of gratitude from the Red Talons stuck in the Caern.

Scene: Pig-Iron Trees

After a few hours of running in Hispo form, the Broken find themselves being led by Raven into a forest made of twisted trees of pig iron and glowing green fog. The ground is more like a bog in this part of the umbra, and the air stinks of oil and putrescence.

Peeking to the physical world, Slays sees Tacoma on the other side, albeit from a high place.

A horde of Banes emerge from the pig iron forest, each looking like construction workers. But their clothes are tattered and stained. Their faces have long tentacles. They have no legs, just floating atop clouds of green gas. Each of their hands has a vicious mouth.

The Broken rush and attack the Banes. They easily contain and drive the banes off, slicing and clawing them away.

Scene: Meeting Weylyn

Four hours later, the Broken come across a crossroads and a bridge. The bridge is small, just big enough to go over a small creek. Raven pauses, looking off into the distance at a incoming storm from the west.

The pack tries to figure out why the storm has Raven’s interest. Peeking to the physical world, Slays just sees clouds far above the Columbia river below.

Scene: Sept of the Owl’s Tome

The Broken and Weylyn arrive at the Sept of the Owl’s Tome. It is on the top of a building standing out in a city of hills of stumps and mist; mosaic tiles of purple and blue are underneath their feet at the end of the trail Raven has led them on. A unicorn-spirit confronts them.

The Unicorn greets them, but ultimately warns them to leave their weapons at the door. The Broken don’t accept this very readily.

Burning-Howl stopped in front of the old, abandoned apartment building near Pike’s Market. He didn’t need to activate a gift to smell the stink of the Wyrm in this place. He could hear Red Death zombies wandering about.
He moved past the white cordon separating the place from the outside world. Black burn marks were all over the ground around the building. Tomorrow-Shinzui’s burning teams had come through this place many times, but obviously did not wish to burn down any buildings in the process. They didn’t want to cause a burn they couldn’t control, and instead focused on creating nice clean lines and wall that contained the blemish they were afraid to stamp out.

Burning-Howl walked up the creaking stairs. Helen had mentioned this place to him, the younger Theurge explaining how she had fought off a Fomori of a homeless woman in one of the higher level apartments. Other commitments had kept her from taking care of the problem, and Burning-Howl decided to take care of it himself.

To be honest, he’d been doing a lot of this lately. He would go out and find the deepest, darkest Wyrm hellhole and burn as much of it out as he could. The Legend knew most of the ancient spirits of this city, and could feel them direct his course.

He closed his eyes, reopening them to see through his Two-World Eyes gift, seeing both physical and umbral realms at the same time. It was much harder than it used to be. The Gauntlet in Seattle had thickened in the last week, so much that even the Caerns had started to be hard to step sideways in. And the Space Needle had grown taller.

He could see the Weaver’s webs strangling tight around the Hellhole the Red Death Banes created. Burning-Howl kicked down a door, entering a dark, empty basement under the abandoned building. Some zombies greeted him, but it took him to no effort to slay them in his homid form.

“I wonder,” Burning-Howl thought to himself, “How my sons and the Broken fare in Portland. I suppose that the Children of Gaia might teach them something, but the Children have gotten so desperate in recent years. Ludwig might be able to teach them and learn something from them.”
Burning-Howl chuckled to himself. No, he imagined Ludwig would just prove how more important action over words really was, and the Children of Gaia would have nothing to say in response to that.

The Fiann Theurge sat down on concrete floor of the basement of the abandoned building. He closed his eyes again, then opened his mouth, chanting words. He howled, his fierce cry scaring those humans who still lived near this place. Weaver-Spawn paused, suddenly focusing on the Wyld energies that Burning-Howl channeled. His howl manifested and turned into living white flame.

My ancestors taught me this gift you Wyrm-fucked basterds. Feel the hot Wyld power of the White Howl. Some of us still exist.

And the gift of the last White Howlers on Gaia seared every beam and piece of wood in the building, the flame white and consuming, a living thing of its own. It slipped in and out of the Gauntlet, tearing down that barrier the Weaver had carved, slaying Banes as it destroyed the building around him.

An hour later, Burning-Howl walked away from the city block that had burned down, destroying Pike’s Market and much of what had been Wyrm-infest waterfront with it.

Some Stories Grow bigger...

“They call themselves the Broken,” the Corax began, “and they fight to stop the apocalypse.”

The gathered Garou listened to the ancient Wereraven. This small Irish Fianna sept had lost many in the fight with the Hungry Ghosts and the Fiery Crown, but Corax like this one had been restoring hope one story at a time. They’d heard rumors of these Seattle Garou who struck at heart of the Weaver’s domain on Earth.

“This pack once was the lowest of the low; none in their Sept respected them and call them curs, outcasts and pariahs. Yet they’ve defied Tomorrow-Shinzui and rescued packs of all kinds from BSD and the Wyrm. Nexus Crawlers and Banes fear their name, for they have never faltered to bind and contain them. They’ve slaughtered a vampire more than five centuries old without so much as a scratch.

“They’ve cured hoards of zombies of the Red Death, risked their lives in the darkest pits of Malfeas and now some say they walk the Abyss seeking to end the life of the Nightmaster themselves. A brother of mine says that the First Ronin himself gathers an army of Fallen, damned and tribeless, if only to stand a chance against them.”

Many of the Garou’s ears perked up at the sound of that.

“Let begin with the first tale I’ve heard of them, wolf-brothers. It is how they saved a Red Talon sept from a powerful Weaver-child. Afterward, they earned that tribe’s trust and comradeship, something most might say is impossible in this age…”

Dream a little dream...

He blinked his eyes open, and felt like he was standing in big forest. It felt like a old growth forest- big white aspens and pines and shrubs and ferns and thickets, very over grow and vibrant with life. He stood in his Crinos form, he assumed, because it was night and the sky a dark grey, full of barely lit clouds that felt like rain. His eyesight adjusted well, as the Wolf-man form had some limited form of night vision, but never enough to fight by. Although, Ludwig mused, it had to be enough to hunt by.

Lupus was even better, since as Knows-the-Path had shown him, a wolf’s sense of smell could be better than any sort of vision. After all, why see when one can feel and taste where something has been? Helping his vision, though, was a eerie green glowing light.

“What is this?” He asked, part of him irritated by whatever the hell this was.

“Part of a dream.” Ludwig turned around and found himself looking down into a pair of glowing green eyes. The source of the eerie light came from her eyes. Lynne’s eyes.

“What?” He asked, more confused than irritated.

“I… have…” Lynne paused, considered her words. “I am talking to you through a dream. I’ve seen many new things, and it seemed simpler to show rather than tell you.”

“Okay, I guess.” Ludwig cocked an eyebrow. “Show me what exactly?”

“This.” She waved a hand at the old growth forest around them.

“Where is ‘this’?”

“What your people call the Umbra, in a long-forgotten glade, that doesn’t exist anymore. At least, she told me it doesn’t exist anymore.”

“She?”

“Mother Gaia. She seemed to think it used to be important.”

He looked into the forest, thick with scents and sounds he realized he’d never heard or smelled before. The word for it was on the tip of his tongue, it was so unreal, so much beyond his normal breadth of experience.

Magical. That’s the word. Magical. This place felt and smelled and looked magical.

“Are we really here then or-”

“-This is a memory. An echo of what the Fae realm used to be.” Lynne pressed herself up closer to him. “And time here moves so much more different, too.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

They spend hours, days, maybe years together in that forest. Ludwig lost track. Lynne was right, time worked so different there.

And he found that the forest in this Memory of Arcadia wasn’t vacant. Fae of all sorts- Trolls, Elves, Centaurs, Dryads and many others- lived in the forest and its many idyllic villages. The two of them were welcome there as if they were mighty heroes and feasted and danced and commingled with the many Fae of the forests of Arcadia. Lynne would remind him that it all was still just a dream- a memory that was fading, and that cast a bittersweet tone on all of it.

But one new night, when the moon was blood red, the Forest burned. Fae rushed and fled from great beasts and horrors. And as the fires raged, snow fell, bringing a cold that the fires couldn’t warm.

Lynne and Ludwig watched down from atop a mountain down at the many Forests of Arcadia. The lands were dark, burning and drowning in horrors. Lynne reached out a hand and pointed to a castle at the edge of the forest.

Ludwig watched what she had pointed out.

He watched as Burning-Howl knelt down before a tall elven queen in silver and green and red. This version of his father was bleeding, tears streaking down his eyes. The elven queen shook her head and walked away from Burning-Howl.

The Legend of the Fianna struck the ground three times and stood up. He looked back into Arcadia and then stepped away, disappearing in a instant.

“What was that? Who was he talking to?” Ludwig looked to Lynne, his eyes confused.

Lynne’s eyes looked sad. “This was his greatest Failure. Gaia, the Mother wanted you to see it.”

“How did he fail then, was he supposed to save this place or-”

“He asked a powerful Faerie for her help. Burning-Howl came to her after every trick he knew failed; when Garou are born, a Theurge performs a rite that binds a Spirit to watch over them. When you were stolen from him, Burning-Howl hunted that spirit down. Once found, that spirit, called a Kin-Fetch, could give him the proper clues and scents to use to find you.

“But Burning-Howl could not find your Kin-Fetch, nor could he discover what had happened to it. He searched the umbra for solutions, entreating with Allies of all kinds to try and find the Kin-Fetch and why he couldn’t find it.

“He became a legend in those days during his hunt for the Kin-Fetch. He found himself repeatedly drawn away from the hunt because he’d stumble across Wyrm taint or have to find this foe or that one. His own daughter turned to the Wyrm and his own twin brother too.

“None had the answer to his quest, and even though the entire Garou Nation knew his name, and his Renown so greatly outshone all but a few, he still could not find out why that Kin-Fetch could not be found. He did find a single clue, but even that clue didn’t uncover a straight answer.

“But Burning-Howl knew that the Fae could do wonders of their own. He’d helped them before, and seen the magnitude of their magic and boons. So he came here and asked them for help.

“Arcadia burned from the taint of the Wyrm, and the Weaver’s cold snap froze the land, as you’ve seen. The Dream that is Arcadia lost much of its power. The Fae offered Burning-Howl a deal:

“We will grant you your son back, but for the price of three: your life for our land, your Wolf itself to strengthen us, and your son to be raised to protect us in the final days.”

Ludwig looked at Lynne. “How do you know all of this?”

" The Black Furies taught me how to commune with Mother Gaia, and she taught me how to read the Dream, Ludwig. Every memory and dream can be seen and read. I’ve lived the memories Burning-Howl has of this moment. He could have gladly died and given up his own spirit if you could be found in the exchange. But he lacked the conviction to make the deal to save Arcadia. He couldn’t promise a son he didn’t know to save a land that is just a dream.

“So Arcadia slowly freezes now. A land of dreams and nightmares, but nothing truly real. Burning-Howl let it die because he couldn’t bring himself to risk anything meaningful to save it, even if it might let him save his son.”

Lynne wrapped her arms around Ludwig.

“I’m sorry, but now this has to end. I will be in your Dreams, love. I must walk the memories and the dreams and do what I can before the end comes. You need to learn from your father’s example; be willing to make a sacrifice and do not hesitate if it only preserves the illusion of what you love.”

A Phone Rings...

Helen’s mother brought the phone up to her ear.
" Yes sir, I told he was coming from Portland. Did I tell her who her father is? No sir."
She nodded and listened to the voice on the line for a moment.
“Of course not. I remember. You promised me a daughter, and I will keep my part of the bargain. Even if she is Garou, she will never who her real mother is, as we agreed. The Fetish remains hidden, as you’ve asked years ago.”
She listened quietly.
“You promise you will keep her safe then?”
Another pause.
" Yes sir, I will do whatever you ask, so long as my daughter is safe. I am her mother, not some Black Fury with an axe to grind. Whatever you ask sir, I’ll do it to keep her safe."
Another long pause.
“I bring it up with her the next time we talk. I’m sure I can convince her to start thinking more in that direction.”
Then Helen’s Mother put down the phone onto the receiver. She then took out a knife and started to slowly dice an onion. She didn’t shed a single tear.

Dramatis Personae

Scene: Down-Time with MacDougall

A week has passed since the pack destroyed Jeremiah. They recover, and Slays calls an ally of his in, in order to help the pack recover psychologically. MacDougall, a Gurahl who knew the mentor of Ashlar.

MacDougall conducts a Rite that gives the pack a feeling of serenity and clarity. It cures their minds of most of the horrors and damage inflicted by Jeremiah during their fight with him. They can feel the presence of Mother Gaia warm their minds.

The Gurahl stays with the Pack for the next week or so, curious about helping with the sick and injured at the MacPherson House.

Scene: Recognition

Slays meets with the Red Talons in the Caern of the Phoenix, to ask the Elder Glacier-Speaker to recognize his new found Purity. The Red Talon does so, clawing Slays face in the process. Glacier-Speaker tells him how poorly the Red Talons are faring in the Caern; the lack of any real game to hunt has left them bored and feeling dejected.

Slays decides to try and do something to fix that.

He gathers what packmates he can to help, finding Helen seducing a group of Kinfolk at Tsuruda’s bar. Screwdriver is willing to help, and the two of them find Connie, who somehow manages to find a menagerie of critters for them.

They gather at the MacPherson House to discuss the best way to create a Rite to help move the critters to the Caern of the Phoenix en masse.

Scene: Burning-Howl

Then Burning-Howl walks into the MacPherson House.

While making introductions, the Legendary Fianna takes offense at Slays-Names, who being a “Shadow Lord” and possessing the Fearsome Klaive makes him angry. He demands that the Klaive be given to him, immediately.

Ludwig then proceeds to give Burning-Howl a better understanding of who he is: he punches him.

Scene: Rite of the Scorn Stone

Tensions heighten in the Sept when Queen Kataryna arrives to decide how to punish Ludwig and his Pack. Screwdriver speaks for him, convincing most of the Sept to be lenient and not ostracize him and the Broken. Being a Philodox, the Sept feels some sort of punishment is necessary, because he supposed to have more honor than his actions suggested.

Kataryna decides to give them a warning, and to force Ludwig to bear the Rite of the Scorn Stone. His honor is sullied by bearing it and he isn’t much happier for it.

Ludwig and the rest of the pack greet Burning-Howl, and are forced to have him stay with them. The Legend had to be convinced not to kick them out of his ancestral home. Tense moments pass, and Slays moves back to working on helping the Red Talons in the Caern of the Phoenix.

Scene: Talking

After talking with MacDougall about the Rite, Slays and Screwdriver have a heart-to-heart with Burning-Howl. Burning-Howl learns that Screwdriver is his son, something that the Legend is uncertain what his opinion of it is. They agree to exchanging one question for another, and the three of them quickly explain themselves.

Burning-Howl learns why Slays has made the deals he’s made with Grandfather Thunder, and explains why he left to meditate in the Deep Umbra with the Wyld. The Legend had sought desperately to try and find his missing son, Lachlan, for years before he left. Spirits demanded he learn more of the Prophecy of the Last Klaive, and he tried to learn what he could about it before the Apocalypse arrived.
Slays laid the blame for everything that had happened during his absence at his feet, pointing out that without him, the Sept had fallen so badly. Burning-Howl disagreed, and the two left it at that, for the time being.

Lastly, Burning-Howl and Ludwig talked about some things, with Burning-Howl offering to try and answer as many of his questions as he could. The Legendary Theurge offered an apology, of a sort, as well as a recitation of MacPherson clan history…

To Kill A Vampire...

Dramatis Personae

Scene: Screwdriver At the Vampire, with No Pants…

Screwdriver’s ally managed to finagle him into a rather large manor house, where the vampire Samson is holding court. He arrives and announces his intention to, well, ask for Samson’s help in stopping Jeremiah.

The crowded room of well-dressed vampires murmur at his entrance, but a word from a slender woman in a veil, sitting on a mahogony chair, silences all of them.

Jeremiah, she uses her vampiric powers to fascinate Screwdriver, although that isn’t even enough to keep him from talking. Her very word causes Screwdriver to take pause and he finds it oh-so-magnificent. He follows her into a private study… where the suddenly nude Screwdriver (he stripped on his own) and Samson… um, discuss. Screwdriver and Samson come to an agreement.

She promises to do what she can on her end, if Screwdriver promised to come and visit her again… and Samson asked him if he would be so kind to sup a bit of her own blood as their bond. Thus, Screwdriver found himself having made a pact with a Leech. Also, Samson gave him a fancy suit, which throws the rest of the pack off… cause, well, its Screwdriver and clothing.

Scene: War Council

The Rhapsody and the Broken make a plan for what they should do next. With the arrival of Screwdriver, Grom presents the information his scouts had found.

When learning who Screwdriver is, Lovecraft and Grom both ask if they are serious, and surprise that Screwdriver is indeed real.

They get down to brass tacks, and the Broken devise a plan. They ask the Rhapsody to hit one side of Jeremiah’s compound, using car bombs and surprise to throw off the Triads and vampire grunts. The Broken on the other hand, according to Screwdriver’s brilliance, will go out and steal a boat and use the dock that connects to Jeremiah’s warehouse.

Grom gives the Broken a cell with his phone number, so they can coordinate better.

Scene: The Boat

They steal a boat, more easily said than done.

It takes them little effort to break into a marina, since most of Seattle, including the Sept, lies along Puget Sound. Once they begin to skulk about the docks for a boat, however… well, the pack doesn’t do too well at the whole ‘silent as she goes thing’ anyway.

Before they can get caught by police, they manage to cut free a boat and hit the water as fast as they can- Slays uses what trickery he knows to hot-wire it and takes the controls.

Unfortunately, Slays-Names lacks the right kind of know-how to control a boat moving as fast as he pushes it. The boat, especially at night with the coast guard in tow, slams into the dock behind Jeremiah’s warehouse, launching most of the pack out into the water, and throwing Ludwig onto the shore.

Scene: Fighting the Leeches

A group of triad thugs on the dock swarm out, trying to overtake Ludwig, but the Philodox shifts into Crinos and is joined by Screwdriver and Helen. They shift into their own War forms and the three packmates easily slice down the triads, who find bullets do not work well against them.

Seeing that his packmates have the fight well in hand, Slays steps sideways, to see what is happening in the Umbra. The warehouse is a greasy stain in the umbra, Banes that swarm around it departing to try and strike down Slays. Slays fights them off, while hopping from one greasy stone to another to get closer to the warehouse’s reflection.

With the Triads down, Ludwig rips open a hole into the Warehouse. A vampire confronts him, Screwdriver and Helen. The very ugly vampire tries to use its own psychic powers to mess with the pack, but doesn’t do very well.

Meanwhile, Jeremiah moves to behind all of them. The Vampire-Fomori uses a vampire power that makes him invisible. Once Jeremiah gets into position, he uses his own psychic mojo to first frighten Screwdriver, causing the Galliard to flee. Helen on the other hand, Jeremiah breaks her mind with but a single word.

He then commands her to go pay for 1500 loaves of bread in pennies for him, and Helen walks away, psychic dominated to go off.

Scene: Jeremiah

Ludwig distracted by his fight with his vampire, which he wins handily, doesn’t see Jeremiah take out his two packmates. Slays, who has broken into the greasy umbral reflection of the warehouse, peeks back through the gauntlet to see what is going on.

Slays channels his Fianna ancestors, letting the knowledge of how to better use the Fearsome Klaive flood into him. Then he jumps back into the physical world, just in time to confront Jeremiah with Ludwig. Ludwig and Slays make quick work of the vampire, both striking Jeremiah so hard and so quick he couldn’t recover.

Ludwig’s burning claws leave Jeremiah a smoking corpse.

As Jeremiah’s corpse is still smoking, Helen and Screwdriver regain enough self-control to come back.

A massive bane, a oily-slick multi-tentacled thing erupts from Jeremiah’s mouth. As it manifests, Slays prepares a rite to bind it- Ludwig and Screwdriver attempt to keep it under control, while Helen does her best to help Slays with the rite.

Scene: Screwdriver Goes Crazy

One Tentacle of the Oil-Slicking-Kraken passes through the head of Screwdriver. The Galliard hits the ground, suddenly through into a psychic conflict with the Bane.

Screwdriver finds himself having a vision of brutally killing every other member of the pack- but he remains strong enough to resist the bane’s influence, driving it out of his head.

The Bane tries to make an offer with Ludwig, who refuses and keeps the Bane busy long enough for Slays and Helen to finish binding it into a gun. The gun, desert eagle, turns oily and black from the Bane’s influence.

Having succeeded, most of the Pack walks from Jeremiah’s warehouse with some sort of psychic trauma. The Rhapsody leaves enough explosives to blow the warehouse sky high.

The Pack returns home to rest, having made allies out of the Rhapsody.

Scene: Waking Up

The Broken each wake up to the sound of someone at the door; when Screwdriver answers it, it is the Bone Gnawer Theurge Father Pisses-Gold. Pisses-Gold asks how he can help, and Screwdriver asks him to find Knows-the-Path and get her to them as soon as possible.

The Elder nods and goes off. Meanwhile, the tired pack regroups. Screwdriver asks them for options on what to do about Jeremiah.
Ludwig voices what the rest of the pack feels: Kill Jeremiah.

After some discussion, and explaining to Screwdriver what exactly the idea of political treachery works, the Broken decides to try and grab up as many weapons as they can throw at the vampire before its all over. Screwdriver leaves to meet with an Ally of his that might know how to get in contact with Samson, Jeremiah’s rival. If he can, Screwdriver will try to get her to help them against Jeremiah.

With Screwdriver gone, the three of them talk about what best to do next.

Scene: A Spirit We Shall Bind

And so, the three of them decide to try and bind some sort of anti-vampire spirit into a talen for the sake of facing Jeremiah. They decide on a fire spirit, as anything associated with the sun would be difficult at night.

Helen summons up a fire-spirit, dancing around a fire they talk Connie“Connie” Conrad Pearce into making. As she dances, Slays-Names finds a boombox and plays Springsteen, somehow making the summoning stronger. Helen summons up a greater Fire Jaggling, the Azure-Fire-Queen. Before the spirit gets too irritated with her, Helen gives the Jaggling a huge gift of essence.

Slays-Names then conducts the Rite of the Fetish. The negotiation goes odd when the Jaggling admits to knowing Burning-Howl. Eventually it agreed to become a fetish, eager to aid them after Slays agrees to create a scar for it to inhabit on Ludwig’s face. Despite how hodgepodge the setup for the rite is, Slays still manages to succeed at binding it to Ludwig’s face as a Scar-Fetish across his nose and around one eye.

Scene: Black Furies Cometh

While still waiting for Screwdriver, the Black Furies and their liaison arrive. Their liaison, Alexis, makes a snide comment that is met with a backhand from Morrigan, the Warder for the Mother’s Mountain Sept.

Morrigan thanks them and gives Slays a fetish, a Hephestusian Hammer.

Scene: They Are The Rhapsody

A man dressed in a beanie, a Victorian suit-coat and corduroys leaps over the fence and runs up to the three of them. Getting a little too close, he sniffs and then turns his head back and yells out:

“Yes, milord! These be those whom the White Raven foretells!”

Six more figures then lumber out of the shadows after the first. A stocky figure introduces himself as Grom-the-Talker and that this is his rat pack, The Rhapsody. Seven ratkin, who follow White Raven, a sibling spirit to the Broken’s own totem. They’ve come to claim their missing kinfolk.
The Broken were not too willing to let the Rhapsody anywhere near any of the women they had rescued. The Rhapsody explain that Ratkin spread a disease to Kinfolk, which causes them to either grow sick and die or become new Ratkin, if they are true kinfolk. The Rhapsody offers, again, to at least take those kinfolk who’ve changed into Ratkin off their hands.

The Broken refuse, more or less, out of distrust with Ratkin.

One thing leads to another, and pretty soon the Rhapsody and the Broken (minus Screwdriver) agree to work together, once the Broken tell the Rhapsody a vampire had taken their kinfolk. Ratkin believe injustice must be punished, and Grom sends some of his pack ahead to scout Jeremiah out. The Broken learn from the Grom that Culls-the-Herd used to belong to the same pack as Burning-Howl back in the day, just as they learn a great deal about Ratkin society, including the fact that the Rhapsody isn’t a part of Culls-the-Herd’s colony at all.

It also is inferred that someone or some rats in Culls-the-Herd’s colony is working with Jeremiah, at least to have bitten all of the women they’ve rescued from the tunnels.

Its a Bookstore AND a Hellhole!

Dramatis Personae

Scene: Enticing, Ain’t it?

With Screwdriver still out of it, the Pack goes to the locale that was hinted in the Italian bible verses- a bookstore next to a synagogue on 40th Avenue. The bookstore is called MacIntosh’s Reading Pile, and they go inside. The bookstore appears to have a rather large Erotica section as well as three rather ravishing beautiful young barristas, who appear to serve coffee and other beverages.

Ludwig finds a door in the back that is locked with a padlock, while Helen looks through their Erotica section for something specific. Slays, on the other hand, tries using some of his Irish bravado to talk and charm one of the girls. He finds her to be reading a thick book in Latin, about the Celts. She has crimson locks and freckles and more or less leaves Slays fascinated with her.

Ludwig, meanwhile, meets another one of the employees, who quickly impresses Ludwig with her knowledge of Langswercht and other European martial arts. She fascinates him as well, and soon the pair of them are sparring in one of the bookstore’s side rooms.

Helen on the other hand, comes face to face with the third female employee, who looks like a familiar face. Quickly, the two of them get bog down in a conversation on the Kama Sutra- things escalate when she offers Helen chinese food. After that, Helen is deeply enthralled by this woman.

All three of them fell head over heels for the women who work the Bookstore. Enthralled, Helen, Ludwig and Slays-Names each suffer as more and more of their brains are devoured by these enticing women…

Scene: Screwdriver To The Rescue

While his pack has become entranced and enthralled by the Enticers, Screwdriver wakes up. He shifts into Glabro, and many of the bullets in his hide pop out. Screwdriver notices some glitter in his bathtub, but pays it no mind. While unconscious, he recieved a vision warning him about something seducing wolves and choking them in it coils.

The Lupus Galliard quickly learns from Connie that three other members of the pack have headed out for a synagogue, and feeling prescient about it, decides to hurry to get there. A taxi shows up with Christine in it. Christine remembers Screwdriver, and tells him he can use the cab. Apparently, the driver’s been overpaid from a earlier fare and doesn’t charge Screwdriver for it (although the wolf-born still doesn’t understand WHATTHATMEANS.)

By the time he’s come to McIntosh’s Reading Pile, all three of them are deeply entranced, and their resolve crumbling, their minds digesting from the ‘girls’ they are talking with. Slays has already hit his third shot of whiskey with the girl he’s talking with; Ludwig and his ‘sparring partner’ turn to more deviant pursuits while Helen enjoys Chinese in a kinky sort of way. Screwdriver first gets on Slays-Names; he sniffs the air and immediately picks up on:

The Thing talking with Slays-Names is wrong. It stinks of deceit and lies and oil and just enough to tell him that she is nothing but Wyrm-Taint. Screwdriver shifts into Lupus form and bites into her. Slays responds- too enthralled, he tries to defend her, only to have Screwdriver rip out her throat and knock him out of it. She slumps over, with fangs and scales all over her.
Slays recovers from the enthrallment as the girl’s corpse lets out black ichor and a serpentine spirit leaves her body and returns to the Umbra. Slays identifies the Fomori as a Enticer, a specific kind of Fomori that use Succubus-like tricks to enthrall and eventually digest the brains of their target.

The two of them head upstairs, Screwdriver staying in wolf form as they find Ludwig and his sparring partner. Ludwig moves to defend the girl he is with, but Screwdriver and Slays-Names manage to convince him of what is going on, especially after she sprouts fangs and tries to shred Screwdriver. Its a short matter for the three of them to turn her into a corpse.

Scene: Blind Jump

After going upstairs and saving Ludwig, Screwdriver activates his Unspoken Communication gift and sets up a link between the three of them. Screwdriver and Ludwig then head down stairs to find Helen and get her away from the Enticer on her. Slays-Names, on the other hand, decides to step sideways and get things ready in the Umbra for the pack.

Slay-Names’s jump to the Umbra is a slow one, and when it resolves itself, it nearly drives him into Frenzy in the process. Without knowing it, the other side of the Umbra at the bookstore is a Hellhole- a spiritual blotch belonging to the Wyrm, a corrupting blight that wounds the spiritual and physical worlds. Slays manages to find something to cling to and not fall into the black pit, swarming with serpentine banes below him. The blazing sun keeps the Banes at bay long enough for him to find refuge from them.

Meanwhile, Screwdriver and Ludwig open the door to the sideroom, finding Helen in a compromising position with Enticer enthralling her. A struggle breaks out between the four of them. When Helen’s partner attacks Ludwig and causes him harm in the struggle, his injury drives Helen into Frenzy and into Crinos. As she frenzies, the Enticer is killed and Helen begins to wreck and smash everything in sight in the bookstore, ripping holes in the ceiling, taking down walls and more or less raging with bestial screams.

Once Screwdriver manages to get her back in control of herself, they hear Slays screaming in the Umbra- he recommends against stepping sideways to get out.

Scene: Getting Out

The Broken decide its time to leave when police sirens go off from outside. Helen tries going into the back room. She finds a clue that refers to the Biblical verse from the Book of Jeremiah. Past a curtain, and Ludwig finds a girl with a IV and drugged out her mind. She is also covered in rat bites, and doesn’t look a 100% healthy.

In the Umbra, Slays moves to observe from an area more or less analogous to a catwalk in the warehouse the girls are being kept in. He watches from there and sees a girl grow fur and change into the half-rat, half-man form of a Ratkin. That Ratkin runs into the rest of the pack, then flees back into the curtains. Ludwig tries to find her, but the Ratkin disappears into a sewer grate and he decides its better left alone.

With police outside, Screwdriver asks for options. Ludwig suggests that Screwdriver create a diversion and he and Helen will help get the girls out. As for how, they just hope that Raven will Provide.
Screwdriver heads out. Slays uses his Master’s Counsel gift to give Screwdriver a mystic edge, using his connection through the umbra to get it done. Screwdriver fakes a Jamaican accent and uses his Presence to get the attention of every single cop in front of the bookstore.

Behind the store, Ludwig and Helen fight off three Triad thugs, driving them off as soon as they realize that bullets don’t seem to stop either of them.

Trying to think of something to get all of the women back to the Sept, Ludwig and Helen are surprised when Connie shows up with a bus. Happily, they load up inside and tell the Slays and Screwdriver that they are out.

Slays-Names, meanwhile, with his much reduced Resolve, decides to steal a police car. Some of the cops try to follow him, and he eventually manages to dodge them, albeit closely. The cops get distracted by Screwdriver, whom the cops become convinced has a bomb strapped to his chest. The bomb threat lets Slays get by, and the cops taze then throw Screwdriver in the back of a police car.

Scene: Recovery

They all manage to get back in one piece back to the MacPherson House. Screwdriver shifts into his wolf form while in the back seat of the patrol car, which causes the two officers driving it to lose control and flip it over. He walked away, more or less using his Any Beast gift to look like a dog.
Once back at the MacPherson House, the pack all have Mercy Bringer look over the rat bitten women. Raven is sent out to get word to the Black Furies. Then there is a phone call- its Jeremiah. He gives Screwdriver twelve hours to kill Samson or else he will send his own forces out for restitution.

Screwdriver then orders Ludwig, Helen and Screwdriver to go get some rest. Christine asks Screwdriver whats up with him, and Screwdriver sighs and tells her that he has a vampire to kill and something else going after him.

Cut Scene: Everything Burns.

Far above the city of Portland, a meteor falls, burning bright, in the shape of a man.
Below that, in a night club, the vampire Prince of Portland holds court. A insane vampire named Tuesday, he asks his frightened court:

“What day is today?”

They answer, very meekly, “tuesday.”

Tuesday laughs, then the ceiling falls in. The man who had been falling as a meteor, crashes to the floor of the nightclub. He looks up at the court of vampires.

“Who the fuck are you to interrupt me?” Tuesday points a angry finger at the man, his fangs bared.

The man looks up. Then Burning-Howl opens his mouth and lets out a howl. A vicious red-hot flame flies from his mouth and starts to ignite and burn down every single vampire in the room.

A series of gunfire later, Screwdriver threw himself between the bullets and his pack. He takes all of the bullets, and is knocked out in a bloody mess.
Ludwig chases after the assailiant, using his Mighty Bound gift to land through the car’s windshield, landing in Glabro. He takes out the driver with a clawed foot, glass shards glittering. The gun man, sat in the passenger seat, with a shirt that said The Dragon Is Coming and had a big green eye on it.
Slays-Names, picking up the fallen Screwdriver, runs after Ludwig and car. Helen meanwhile, looks into the Umbra and watches as a spirit made of guns speeds by them in the Umbra. The car, along with Ludwig, crashes into a fire hydrant.

The other passenger now dead, Ludwig recovers from the crash without much harm, at least, not anything his regeneration couldn’t handle. He pulls the gun man out of the vehicle with burst of lupine super-strength. Ludwig Rages-Truth, the verge of frenzy, tries to get an answer from the gun man, but Slays-Names quickly tells him that he is dead. In the car they find a blank address book, a cell phone and a t-shirt completely soaked with blood.

“There is a spirit here, too.” Helen said, her eyes no longer distant from peeking into the Umbra.

“We need to get Screwdriver back to the MacPherson House.” Slays reminded them.

“Stepping Sideways then?” Ludwig suggested, and the two others nodded in agreement. They stepped into the umbra. They faced a Gun Violence spirit, and a Bane, by the way it reacted to them. Quickly they fought it; it tried to use sort of spirit mojo to incite Ludwig to frenzy, but Slays-Names used one of his gifts to command it to stop. The gun spirit, after that, was no trouble at all for Ludwig to finish with a claw swipe.

Scene Two: Six Wolf Heads

The pack returned to the MacPherson House, tired, as the sun finished rising. Ludwig meets with Knows-the-Path and Pisses-Gold, unwilling to rest, while the rest of his pack tries to get some sleep. The two Elders told them their opinions on the offer from Jeremiah. He finds them at the Shrine to Owl on the outskirts of the Caern.

“Never Trust Leeches and kill all of them on sight,” Knows-the-Path counsels, her tail and head motions harsh in their movement.

Back at the house, Helen’s Metis child Cassie shows her a wood carving he had made of six decapitated wolf heads. He points out to the backyard, where he made the picture. Helen finds six wolf heads out in the backyard, and Cassie explains that “the Ghost Wolf left them there and that he says he coming.”

Helen gets Slays-Names, and the two of them try and find out if this “Ghost Wolf” is a spirit. But none of the Sept’s Spirit allies have seen any Wolf- or Wolf-like spirits coming into the Sept. Unsure, the two of them return to resting until they’ve gotten enough sleep before going out again to work on the human trafficking problem that the Black Furies had asked them to solve.

Scene Three: Rats, Always Rats

Ludwig returns back to the Building they had been at during the prior chapter, looking to investigate why or how the human traffickers moved through the Ratkin’s territory. He found chinese names written in black paint on one of the building’s walls. He then continued down to the barricade in the sewers that marked the entrance to the Ratkin’s territory.

“My Alpha, Screwdriver? You know him right? He’s been shot. You guys need to tell me what you know-”

“Fuck off small cock,” The Ratkin chimed.

Ludwig, keeping control over himself, sighed. Then he decided to just go look for himself, and started through the barricade and entered the Ratkin’s territory. After all, the Ratkin shouldn’t or wouldn’t be a problem for him in a fight.

As he stalked through the sewers, Ratkin chirped and taunted him from every shadow. Insane chatter and insults of all colors were thrown at him. Then, he felt a rock hit him in the back of the head. Ludwig turned around and looked at the Ratkin who through it.
Ludwig then followed the rock throwing Ratkin, right into a ambush. Fifty or so Ratkin fell on him, and although Ludwig held his own and drove off at least ten of them, it didn’t matter. The swarm of wererats brutally knocked him into unconsciousness…

On Display, Today Only, Ludwig…

Raven didn’t fly back to warn his pack; he became lost in the tunnels the Rats occupied, both in the Umbra and under Seattle.

The rest of the pack, back at the MacPherson house, learn of Ludwig’s trip to the sewers from Father Pisses-Gold. The old Theurge informs them of what Ludwig asked them, and how he said he planned to go see about why the scent trail of the human traffickers went through the Ratkin’s territory.

Slays-Names and Helen followed the path Ludwig took, except they entered the tunnels through the Umbra. They entered through the cave entrance that was the only object reflected by the building in the Penumbra. The tunnels felt electric, a raw creative energy vibrated throughout them.

The two of them walked down the tunnels, their feet echoing. The two theurges checked periodically, looking for the point in the tunnels that reflected the barricade that marked the entrance to Culls-the-Herd’s colony. After walking for a bit, the two of them stop and hide, certain that the rumbling they hear is a Ratkin or spirit sentry.
Instead, a massive serpentine thing, like a Worm birth by H. R. Giger, broke through the tunnel wall in front of them. The worm carved a fresh new tunnel, stinking of oil and rot. A Ratkin hunting party followed it and killed the beast. Apparently the Ratkin were dealing with their own Wyrm problems.

Eventually the two of them found the part of the umbra that reflected a Auditorium in the physical world. Back in the physical world, Helen peeked to see a crowd of three hundred or so Ratkin in a chamber modified to project film. On the stage of the auditorium was Ludwig, tied with chains not unlike King Kong.

Culls-the-Herd stepped out, and tossed a cup of nasty grey water into Ludwig’s face.

“Why the fuck should I care about him? Other Rats give a damn about him, not me. I am Culls-the-Herd, King of this Colony and Knife Skulk of the Rat Race. Explain yourself, Wolf.”

“My name is Ludwig, and I work with Screwdriver. He got shot not long after we left you people-”

“I don’t care. Give me one reason not to gut you here, Wolf.”

“Damn it, we listened to-”

“Fine then.” Culls-the-Herd pulled out the The Fearsome Klaive. “I’ll take this as payment and you get to go back to the other wolves and REMINDTHEM to stay out of MY TURF! Take ’em and dump in a sewer grate somewhere! NOW!”

The Ratkin started to chant their king’s name, over and over. Ludwig, meanwhile, was dragged out of the auditorium with a dirty bag over his head.

Scene Four: Getting Out

Ludwig now on his way out, Slays-Names prepares his Nyx Bangle fetish- asking the Night-spirit that powers it for a favor in exchange for freeing it from the bracelet. He waits for his moment- hoping to catch Culls-the-Herd in a moment when he is by himself. Helen, meanwhile, went to go retrieve Ludwig from where ever the Ratkin decided to dump him.

Slays-Names peeks back into the physical world- Culls-the-Herd turns and faces the Ratkin in the auditorium.

“Now that is done, we go! We hunt Wyrm-beasts!” Every Ratkin cheered and followed their King in stepping sideways. Once in the Umbra, the masses of Ratkin ran out in every direction, to drive out the Wyrm monstrosities that moved through their spiritual turf.

A older Ratkin approached Culls-the-Herd and asked him, “why did you lie about the Klaive? Surely, if we could just sacrifice a fetish to return our Bards to us, then we would have done that already.”

“They need that hope. I’ll trade with the Wolves for something for it. Damn wolves will do anything for it, I’m sure.” Culls-the-Herd put the Klaive into his belt.
That was the moment that Slays-Names struck.

The spirit told him that the ‘invisibility’ it granted would only work until Slay touched another- so running up, grabbing and Fearsome Klaive and bolting for it? Yeah, that kinda made him visible. And, so, Slays ran for it, with many, many Ratkin on his tail.

Meanwhile, Helen finds Ludwig in a sewer grate. Ludwig isn’t doing too well after being humiliated by the Ratkin. While the two are there, they find a brochure there that is a Seattle Tour guide written in Mandarin, and marked with a triangle. Ludwig takes note of it, and that some of the names on it match the names written on the wall of the building from earlier. The two of them head back to the MacPherson House, eager to get out of the sewers.

Slays-Names runs through the tunnels, some of which lead to odd points in the umbra- the Wyld energies of the Ratkin’s tunnels seem to led one astray quickly enough- and eventually he heads up into the massive webbing in Seattle’s Penumbra. He climbs atop the tallest point of the webs, the massive Weaver-Spire in the north of town.

The Ratkin give up on the chase, and Slays quickly crosses the Gauntlet. He finds himself at the top of the Space Needle, and eventually gets back to the MacPherson House himself.

Conclusion

Ludwig, now feeling unworthy of the Fearsome Klaive for losing his fight to the Ratkin, refuses to take it from Slays when he returns. As they eat, the pack goes over the clues Ludwig found, and Helen recognizes a location from the biblical verses Raven translates for them: A synagogue on 40th street. It is, of course, far more information than they had before, and worth checking out before nightfall.

They still haven’t decided if they want to try and kill the vampire Samson for Jeremiah yet.

Tomorrow-Shinzui Digizen News Update!

Hello and Welcome to the current upgrade and news notice! Here is a summary of the upgrade and news being downloaded into your digital citizen files.

ASTROLOGICALPHENOMENAWARNING
TS Satellites and Astrological survey teams identified a group of five to ten large asteroids moving near Mars. Scientists project that there is a 1.45% chance of collision with the Earth. Research is continuing to watch to see if this chance increases.

DIGIZENSHIPADOPTIONREACHES 60%
In the three months after its creation, Tomorrow-Shinzui Digizen subscriptions have reached 60% in the downtown Seattle area. TS policy committees are currently discussing making Digizenship a requirement for all those who wish to live in the Seattle-Tacoma-TS area. This would only be made policy when annexation and merge of Tacoma-Seattle with Tomorrow-Shinzui is finalized in August.

MAYORASSASSINATION
Mayor Samson was found dead in his home. His throat had been ripped apart as though it had been done by some form of canine. He is survived by his wife, Amelia Samson, also a senior partnet of Angela-Samson Law firm. Samson had been long proponent of Tomorrow-Shinzui integration with Seattle, and his death has stalled talks on the merging.
Acting Mayor Jeremy Miller says he is working to get talks back on track. “Samson would want us to finish this. Tomorrow-Shinzui and Seattle have a future together, and he believed that is the only way we can make this world better.”

Dramatis Personae

Three Months later, the Broken are the emissaries of Queen Kataryna, traveling to all the local septs to try and come up with new allies for the Sept before the Sixth Sign comes.

Scene One: Quarantine

At a crossroads in a quarantine zone, around midnight, the Broken are following the scent trail of a human trafficking ring. The Mother’s Mountain Sept having asked them to do put a end to the trafficking ring in Seattle, as many Black Furykinfolk have been stolen through it. End the human trafficking ring, and the Mother’s Mountain Sept will gladly send a pack or two to help defend the Caern of the Phoenix.

Upon approaching the crossroad, they pause. Slays-Names peeks across the gauntlet into the penumbra of this place. All he sees at first is a empty field with a cave entrance, and not much more else. Slays sees a Bane approaching their location; he uses his Know Name gift to learn that it is called The-Itch-That-Bleeds.

On the real side of things, naked bodies of Red Death zombies begin to shuffle toward them.

The pack pulls Slays out of it, and fight off fifty or so zombies. We see new coordination from them, including the new leadership of Screwdriver, who has acclimated to the role of Alpha in the three months since the last chapter. Slays is no longer the one in charge, and seems the better for it. Slays and Screwdriver set up a car for Ludwig, which he, via a flick of a Klaive, uses to squash the last of the naked zombies.

Scene Two: Empty Building

After dealing with the walking dead, the Pack enters the Building the scent has led them to.

Inside the building, and after Screwdriver has eaten a rather rotten sandwich, he observes the scent trail has split into two. One goes upstairs to the higher floors of the building, while the other goes down a dark hallway and turns. Ludwig advocates going upstairs, but Screwdriver instead decides on examining the hallway. The trail leds down a hole under the building- a drop of about twenty feet into dark sewer water.

Of course, Screwdriver almost fell in when he opened the door to it- and then when he tried to hop in by himself, only being stopped by Ludwig grabbing him. Ludwig suggests a course of action that might- might- be better for the entire pack to move down there, besides, Ludwig wants to check out the upstairs before going too far in the sewers.

Ludwigs goes up to investigate, while the rest of the pack looks for a way to get into the sewer a bit more safer.

Upstairs, Ludwig finds a abandoned series of beds, with curtains separating them. Used once to drug and hold the women being trafficked, Ludwig searches for some clues, using what Philodox investigative skills he can. He finds a King James Bible, which was written in Italian, and a Beijing phone book written in the original Mandarin.

Not finding much else, Ludwig asks Raven to tell the pack he is on his way back to them.

Meanwhile, Helen Leaves-Them-Asking-For-More finds a door that leads down into the sewers without the big drop from the hole. Not to be stopped, Screwdriver drops down with his Catfeet gift, landing softly in the murky green water of the Seattle sewers.

They find a set of flashlights in an abandoned cart in the water- Slays-Names almost tripping over it- with even a fresh set of batteries there for them.

Raven will provide, as they say.

Scene Three: The Rats

As soon as Ludwig rejoins them, all four of them follow the scent trail down the sewers. The myriad of smells makes it harder for Screwdriver track, but eventually they come across something. They find a barricade blocking the sewer, while the scent trail continues on through it. On the front of the barricade is a stop sign, a glyph written on it in human blood.

After a time, some rats appear and chitter at them. Screwdriver and Ludwig start taking the barricade down, bit by bit. The rats chatter at them, and after a moment, one begins to grow larger and shift in a ugly, half-man half rat form. Ratkin.

Ratkin who recognize Screwdriver.

“Screwdriver! What the hell! This is our stuff!”

“Yeah, well…”

“Plus you owe us money, remember that poker game?”

Slays-Names tries to intercept, using his guile to try and shift the blame off Screwdriver. “He is a wolf-born. Kinda a nasty trick to try and fool him into a poker game.”

“It was his idea! Besides, the Rat King doesn’t allow any Wolves in his Kingdom. No wolves. Leave.”

Dumbstruck, the pack struggles to try and find a way to get some sort of answer or permission from the Ratkin. They don’t budge on it until…

The Ratkin, the fifty or so gathered in various forms chitter and chatter at this.

“Tell me what you know, wolf!”

“You first, Rat. Know anything about some human trafficking or people who moved through here earlier?”

The Ratkin pauses to think about it. “No, not really. I do know a guy whose people deal with traffickers and the like. Vampire, always good for information on them, used to run around down here. He made some deal with the King and has a warehouse up top.”

The pack thinks about it and decides to check this out, rather than deal with the Ratkin right now. Slays-Names explains his information to them.

“Ah, turns out that Tomorrow-Shinzui is working on a cure for the Red Death-” the Ratkin really didn’t like the sound of that- “but the really juicy part is who is doing it for them, a pack of Werewolves who’ve joined them, The Robot Lords, are working on it.”

And with that, the Ratkin flee off in a hurry like a fire had been lit under their asses.

Scene Four: Who is Jeremiah?

They come to the Warehouse bearing Jeremiah’s name on it.

Outside, there is the smell of bleach in the gutter, which blocks out most of the other scents at this place. Irritated, the pack is about to decide what to do next when a camera turns and speaker outside calls out to them:

“If you are coming in, then knock already or I will call the police. Go ahead, either you have business with me or leave.”

With a sigh on their breaths, the Broken enter the Warehouse lair of a vampire named Jeremiah.

Inside there is a small cessna plane in one corner, with a coffin in a darkened corner, held up by a pair of concrete cinder blocks. Mandy, as sung by Barry Manilow, is playing in the hanger/warehouse. Stacks of various goods printed with words in foreign language are strewn about.

“Gee, this is a clean place.”

After a beat, a dark robed figure emerges from the shadows and a hidden stairwell. His hood obscures his entire face. His voice sounds horrible.

“Hello, Lupines. I recognize you, Slays-Names from a prior function. I am Jeremiah. What brings you to me?”

The pack explains their predicament, and Jeremiah offers to fix it for them. He knows who is involved, the Triads. He can get them all together in one room, at one time and let the pack ask them any question they wish.

The Broken question this on the face of it. It beggars the question to them, is it worth it to trust this particular vampire? And what does he want in exchange?

Jeremiah asks them to assassinate Samson, a female Vampire who controls about half of the vampires in the city as well as the Mayor’s Office. She is a enemy of his, and her death would make his control over organized crime all that much easier. Kill Samson, and Jeremiah will give them the way to fix the human trafficking problem.

The pack leaves, deciding to return to the MacPherson House to figure out what to do next, to prepare and to plan their next move. Little did they expect what would happen next.

What is Screwdriver's last memory of his mother?

Autumn 2009

In hispo form, his senses were dulled a bit, but he recognized her scent. There were a hundred different smells flitting around the forest floor. Dead leaves, stained thickly with the coppery smell of fresh wolf blood and what smelled like disease to him. Underneath all of that, however, there was a stronger scent.

Mother.

He approached her carefully. He hadn’t come back since his First Change. Meeting Pisses-Gold and learning about that other form had been interesting, but it kept him from his Mother, as old as she was. The pack long ago had abandoned her when she was pregnant.

Screwdriver didn’t know exactly why- exposure to human thought gave him hints, perhaps his Mother held a very poor position in the Pack? Had she been the omega, driven out when due to have her litter?

He didn’t know. His siblings left him alone with Mother long ago- each looking for their own path, and their mother lacked the dominance to hold them anyhow. She wasn’t strong, and Screwdriver never had been strong either. He protected her, and she taught him how to be a wolf.

But now he had changed… and… mother was a half-dead corpse.

He stood over her body. She blinked weakly at him, her tail moving. In wolfspeak she almost said something, but Screwdriver couldn’t quite understand it. It wasn’t until she stopped moving, her blood finally taking the last life from her, that he understood.

“Is that you?” She had asked.

Screwdriver sat, saddened.

Then he heard the howl. The Wrong Kind of Howl. Wolves didn’t howl that way. It… was Wrong. Like something pretending to be a wolf. Something perverse that made Screwdriver want to kill it.

And the howl conveyed a notion that irritated him more. Screwdriver felt the urge to frenzy rise. The howl mocked him. It said “see what I’ve done? I know what you are, and I did this just to piss you off.”

His urge to frenzy broke- he lost control, and in that frenzy, Screwdriver fell into the thrall of the Wyrm, and feast on the corpse of his own mother.

Afterward, the Lupus decided to live in the now and make new family. A corpse is a corpse, and he would never stand to see another too soon…

Why did Ludwig get to keep the Klaive?

5 Years Ago (Summer 2007)

Ludwig always remembered the first Get of Fenris gathering Duncan took him to- blood, guts and more pain than he thought was possible at that point in his life. Sixteen Get of Fenris, most of whom were from all over the Northwest.

At least four packs of Get, and the first thing they did was have Ludwig prove himself.

‘Prove’ apparently meant ‘try to beat within an inch of his life.’ After all, if he could stay awake from the pain they dealt him, that must be a sign of Fenris’s favor.

If Ludwig passed out, well, then Fenris didn’t favor him and the Get assembled would just rip out his throat and call the night good.

“Why did I agree to this?” He mumbled, his face covered in bruises and just the right amount of blood to blind you, but not kill you.

“Boy, you still awake?” Duncan asked, a bit too cheerful for Ludwig’s taste.

“Why did you do that? Aren’t I Garou? What purpose is in this?” Ludwig demanded, his fury rising.

A Gift one of the Get used on him kept him from shifting, but he could feel the Frenzy trying to unlock that door. It just made everything MORE frustrating.

“Lessons, kid.” Another Get, Rebecca Teeth-of-Red answered. "How can you imagine giving a punch without taking one from an expert? What better way to learn clawing someone up from first hand experience? How else do you learn to fear the slice of a Klaive?

“Besides,” She continued, Ludwig now seeing her speak in Crinos. Somehow she’d managed to shift her throat into human, yet retain her war form at the same time. Still more things he needed to learn! “We needed to see if you were worthy of the Fetish you carry.”

“Why? This Klaive is mine by right!”

“Because it is the law of the People,” Duncan explained, “To those of higher station is the first kill, the first prize, the first glory, the first fetish. Among the Get, station and strength are seen much to be the same. You are strong enough to protect this Klaive- strength to wield pales in the face of the strength to keep at bay those who’d dare take it from you!”

The Debrief

The pack prepares to leave; Helen goes off on her own- but time is too precious for the pack to wait for her. They take Richard MacPherson with them, and go off to the Caern of Howling Storms to take a Moon Bridge to the Sleeping Ice Sept.

So the Pack- Screwdriver, Slays-Names, Ludwig and Ashlar walk in to find Kataryna and every other Silver Fang in the cave screaming and on the floor. After a moment it passes, and the briefing for the Pack’s mission begins. Kataryna is no longer her ‘very scary self’, and even Black-Claw’s Metis deformity is gone. They seem to be more ‘pure, less crazy Silver Fang.’

They question the Red Talon, Runs-for-the-Moon, who explains that Wyrmspawn humans are attacking their Caern and they need help ASAP. The Robot Lords, along with the new Warder Memphis Drives-Fast question helping the Red Talons Sept- Dante displays news coverage of the destruction of Tieton and blames it on the Red Talons. Runs-for-the-Moon doesn’t deny it, he re-emphasizes his Sept’s view that all humans are Wyrm-tainted and deserve to die.
Kataryna sends the Broken to the Sleeping Ice Sept, but tells them to abandon it if they feel the situation is untenable. Memphis concurs, suggesting they don’t feel guilty if they leave a Red Talon or two behind.

From Russia, With Love

Meanwhile, in Russia, Mercy-Bringer comes face-to-face with the largest Rite he’s ever seen. Hundreds of antique, powerful fetishes from the oldest Silver Fang bloodlines are sacrificed to Great Falcon. By the end of the Rite, the King, Jonas Albrecht calls out to Great Falcon.

He implores Great Falcon to cure his tribe, his people, and let them be the true kings of Garou they were intended to be. Their madness and deformities keep them from leading truly.

And with a flash, all Silver Fangs, everywhere, stand up cured of their madnesses and deformities. Even Mercy-Bringer feels a weight lifted from him.

Then things go horribly wrong, and most of the Tribe of Kings turns to the Wyrm. They see, now with no madness in their eyes, that there is no chance to save Gaia- ’tis better to rule in hell, as they say.

Approaching the Sleeping Ice

Meanwhile, the pack reaches the Sept of the Sleeping Ice.

Two Hunter Spiders guard the entry into the Sept’s umbral side and the Caern’s heart. Surprised by the two Weaver-spirits’ strength, the Pack takes their time to fight and bring the spirits low.

Using his new gift, Silent Communication, Screwdriver creates a mental link between all of the packmates. With the two hunter spiders defeated, the pack steps sideways into the reality. The gauntlet is tougher than they expect for a Caern- that and nearby weaver-spirits and a hazy umbra doesn’t bode well.

Taking them some longer than normal time to cross over, the pack succeeds and appears in the Heart of the Caern for the Sept of the Sleeping Ice. A tent has been erected over it, and some tables. At one table, a researcher in a lab coat has her back turned to them.

Fire in the Sept

Helen returns back to the MacPherson House with Cassie, ready to join the Pack’s mission. Multiple houses and buildings in the Sept are on fire, and most of the Sept are hurrying to put them out. Helen runs into Mercy-Bringer, who survived the Silver Fang corruption by using a moon-bridge escape to land on a ship sailing for Seattle. The ship, comprised of various changing-breed doctors, are en route for a meeting of various Gaian medical minds in Seattle.

Laborator-ious

The Pack knocks out the researcher, and takes a look at their surroundings. When security officers show up, it takes them no effort at all to get rid of them- although, pretty quickly, they hear things escalate outside the tent. Machines whirling.

Eventually, the pack finds out that Agent Dunlap is in charge of the large contingent of Tomorrow-Shinzui employees who’ve canvassed the entire Sleeping Ice Sept. Whats worse is that no one in the pack can sense that usual buzz that a Caern gives off.

Surrounding Dunlap, they try to take down the Weaver-spawn. Things don’t go very well- Dunlap seems to possess inhuman speed, toughness and strength- on top of that, he seems to regenerate even the smallest cut. Panicking at the hard fight, Slays sends Raven off to get back up- especially after he realizes there isn’t going to be a way to Moon Bridge out of the Sleeping Ice.

As the pack flees into the umbra, Ludwig distracts Agent Dunlap with a conversation. The pack, meanwhile, moves. Slays-Names finds the imprisoned Red Talons, and starts freeing them. Ashlar hurried to nearby helicopters, and started a fire. Screwdriver, meanwhile, provided a quick exit for Ludwig- who made sure to entangle Dunlap in the tent canvas before stepping sideways himself.

Slapper-dash

Helen and Mercy-Bringer arrive on a nasty scene: the pack trying to overcome, one blow at a time, Agent Dunlap. Dunlap had apparently followed them into the Umbra. Screwdriver, Slays, Ludwig and Ashlar all surrounded and tried to pin down the ever-regenerating Dunlap.

Helen and Mercy-Bringer quickly filled in the holes around Dunlap, and joined in harrying him down. Quick orders from Screwdriver via his mental link, combined with teamwork between Ludwig and Mercy-Bringer finally dropped and slew Dunlap. The Pattern Spider that had been bonded with him, however, skittered away, only to be quickly slashed to bits by a blow from Mercy-Bringer.

The Broken then re-grouped with the surviving Wolf kin and Red Talons, all of which had been collared. These strange collars, cyberfetishes by Slays estimation, kept them from shapeshifting.

Talking it over, Ludwig is eventually able to convince the Red Talons that at their home Sept they can remove the collars.

Conclusion

Kataryna reveals that Burning-Howl is going to return back from the Sept. He has sent word through a intermediary that he is returning from communing with the Wyld in the Deep Umbra.

More sane than before, Kataryna informs the Broken that she is declaring herself Queen of the Northwest, and she is taking up her father’s Crown. She also notes that now she will need proper emissaries, suggesting that the Broken are no longer the omega pack and are expected to make something of themselves…

Helen and Ashlar prepare to leave, to go off and find Rorg’s Realm. Meanwhile, Slays-Names leaves the house first, only saying he’ll be back after a week. Pisses-Gold has informed him that the Wendigo Sept of Winter’s Gate is willing to teach him the Rite of Bridge Building (and that Little Sister is at that Sept as well).

Screwdriver meanwhile, appears to just be off drinking booze in his room.

Then Helen and Ashlar step sideways, so that Ashlar can learn a gift from the local Bear-spirit (Bear-Who-Takes-Trash). Luckily Helen is there to smooth over things- Ashlar fumbles his request a bit, but manages to convince the spirit to teach him the Gift of Adaptation. Then they begin the long quest to find the Aetherial Realm…

On Mt. Rainier…

Ludwig and the Black Fury Pack, along with Lynne and a dozen or so kinfolk women, journey through the umbra toward the Black Fury’s Caern. They stop, and drop Ludwig off at a abandoned campground. When he asks why he must wait, the Black Fury pack informs him that ‘he is Weaver-tainted. We will not allow Weaver taint into a Caern until after our Master of the Rite has cleansed you.’

So, Ludwig, Lynne and Knows-the-Path wait for the Mother’s Mountain Elders to arrive.

Later…

That night, a set of howls tells Ludwig who is coming: the Warder for their Sept and their Master of the Rite. They mean to no harm, and come in peace, as it is a well-presented Howl of Introduction. The Warder is first to arrive and calls herself Morrigan MacPherson, and that their Master of the Rite is Mountain’s Daughter.

Surprised to find another MacPherson, Ludwig is confused. Morrigan explains that they are willing to teach Lynne about Gaia and guide her, and that they too, will gladly accept Knows-the-Path; both of them carry no taint and are women, and more or less, the Black Furies have a preference for that sort of company. Ludwig then agrees to be cleansed, if it will let him go into their Caern.

Visions
Halfway through the rite, Ludwig falls unconscious.

He has a vision- hearing a voice say “activate Protocol Epsilon.” A old recording is sent into his mind, offering Ludwig two choices. Either he can choose to remain as he is, a werewolf that deals with such frenzy at times, or he can choose to expel his werewolf nature and find some form of “clarification.” Virgil O’Neill, at least in recorded form, shows him a vision of Ludwig dying of old ages with young children- the very same vision Phoenix had showed him earlier.

Ludwig chooses, then, to refuse. He wishes to remain what he is.

He then wakes up screaming, as a Pattern Spider has manifested inside his skull. Morrigan uses the Fearsome Klaive and cuts the weaver-spirit out. Ludwig is not really that conscious as the Black Furies carry him back to their Caern…

It takes Helen and Ashlar the better part of a day to find the Aetherial Realm. It was a daring journey, dodging ancient minotaur-spirits whilst climbing to the highest of the highest reaches to step out into the stars. Upon arriving, they enter the Monastery that is home to the Sept of the Stars.

The Stargazers there read their signs, and greet the pair of them, offering them some bland tea as they discuss the nature of myth and sign and astrology. When they ask about the nature of his quest, Ashlar surprises them by explaining that he is going to steal a stone from Rorg himself in order to prove himself worthy of the rank of Fostern (2).

Ashlar learns that Mitanu is his birth sign (good for one who is a Ragabash) while Helen is blessed by the birth sign of Sokhta, or Luna- which is a favorable sign for a Theurge as well.

Scene Three: Moon Bridge to Snoqualmie

Slays walks the Moon bridge, meeting a Ice Wolf spirit guarding the entrance to the Winter’s Gate Sept. It glances its nose down at him, and sniffs.

Slays bows his head, and in respect, asks to be permitted into the Winter’s Gate Sept. The spirit recognizes him, and lets him by- for now. He walks into the Sept out of the Moon Bridge, into its umbral reflection.

It is a colder, snowy place, but even in the umbra, snow is melting from the hot burning sky above. Little Sister and other Elders greet Slays, and he sits with them under a lean-to that is covered in snow. In that chill, most of the Wendigo don’t even wear any clothes.

They hand him a bowl of liquid, and ask him to drink from it.

“Its time you learned the rest of the prophecy, Slays-Names.”

His eyes burned as new memories were forced into his skull. He saw the Storm Lords talking to Phoenix, asking for more details on what the Last Klaive was about. They fell unconscious as Phoenix explained:

Now in the Realm of Rorg, Ashlar moves a bit deeper, to find a stone for certain that belongs to Rorg. Helen warns him to do otherwise- but it is a little too late when the Incarna of Turog is awakened, screaming with unbridled raging madness.

“WHODARESSTEPINTO MY REALM!?”

Ashlar and Helen are interrogated and verbally thrashed by the every-raging Incarna that is Rorg. He doesn’t respect them at first, but Raven’s presence earns them some respect. It appears that their particular raven spirit has impressed Rorg, enough that he doesn’t kill the two of them right then and there.

He tells them that they will hunt! Unwilling to upset the insane spirit, Helen and Ashlar watch as Rorg summons various animals. But he dismisses them, seeing them as not that exciting prey. So he instead summons a crowd of naked, pleading, crying humans instead. He asks them if they find this prey interesting enough to hunt?

Ashlar scoffs and tells Rorg he doesn’t think they are worthy prey.

Rorg spits, sputters and decides to oblige him. A rock slams down, and slaughters the lot of humans. He jabs a thumb at Helen.

“How about her then? Shall we track her and eat her heart?”

Again, Ashlar disagrees, still thinking her as not worthy enough prey. So Rorg instead decides to hunt Ashlar- if Rorg catches him, then Rorg will slay both of them; if Ashlar can elude him before the Forest Rorg has summoned goes completely away, then Rorg will let him keep a piece of him.

The hunt is hard, vicious- and ultimately, Rorg wins. He catches Ashlar. Only Raven saved the two of them- giving them enough time to leave in one piece, more or less. Since each stone itself was a part of Rorg, Ashlar seems to have, more or less, failed.

But upon leaving Rorg’s Realm, Ashlar and Helen run into Richard MacPherson. Richard gives Ashlar a Klaive, and surrenders honorably to him. He insults Helen with a new nickname or two and insists are being taken alive back to the Sept, to “face justice.”

Scene Five: Cry for Help

Not long after getting back, Slays finds himself needed as the Gatekeeper.

Ludwig and Knows-the-Path appear on a Moon Bridge from the Mother’s Mountain Sept- and before the tense situation can get tenser, yet another Moon Bridge opens.

On this one comes a injured Red Talon, who in Lupus form, collapses on the ground. Slays drops to help the Red Talon, while Pisses-Gold revives him. The Red Talon is conscious enough to say, via Wolfspeak:

Sacred place. Attack. Help. Us.

Coordination

Helen and Ashlar come back as well, walking into the Caern proper along with Kataryna.

Knows-the-Path and Kataryna know one another- and Kataryna apparently knows sign langauge and communicate fairly well with Knows-the-Path. Knows-the-Path insists, that before anything else, she and the Broken, along with Ludwig talk. After that is done, the Elder Philodox will be willing to help the Sept decide what to do next.

The Pack go back to the MacPherson House, and hash things out. Ludwig is allowed back into the pack, while Knows-the-Path performs the Rite of Contrition for Ludwig, in order to appease Raven. He provides a quarter or two as part of the Rite, and Raven welcomes him back.

And of course, the rest of the Pack learn that Ashlar has taken prisoner Richard MacPherson. Slays-Names is… suspicious of what exactly Richard is up to…

MacPherson gives them the same warning that the Red Talon did- Tomorrow-Shinzui is attacking the Red Talon Sept, and in exchange for this information he expects some decent treatment. But why did he surrender to Ashlar? Is something more horrible about to happen?

Join today!

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Recieve your Digizenship today- correct for disorder soon!”

The Tomorrow-Shinzui Informercial is interrupted by a news broadcast:

“Hi I’m Agatha MacKenzie, and this is a break news break from CIN. Never late, and always up to date!

“Tieton Washington has been attacked by Terrorists. The Tomorrow-Shinzui Security Corps hours ago reported that the town’s some 1200 populace had been killed in a savage massacre. No survivors have been found.

" The Security Corps found evidence linking the terrorists at Tieton to other attacks across the state. It is believed that the terrorists are part of a Cult of Survivialists and ecoterrorists who call themselves ‘The Wolf-Born.’ It is speculated that the recent destruction of Wolves infected with Red Death have caused a violent backlash in the conservation movement, and that many of the infected have joined the ‘Wolf-Born’ out of a delirium.

“Tomorrow-Shinzui subsidy, DNA Inc, issued a report this week supporting that- evidence indicates a genetic connection between some sort of severe psychosis, the Red Death and Wolves. DNA Inc has promised that in the following weeks, they will have more published to help explain this connection.

“Authorities continue to hunt down the Wolf-Born, and Tomorrow-Shinzui Security Corps and CyberSol teams, along with the National Guard, have been sent into the Wolf-Born’s base, believed to be hidden in Olympic National Park. The Wolf-Born are not the only Cult related to the Red Death to emerge in the last few months, a Cult about Dragons has appeared in China, a Cult tied to Foxes seems to have emerged in Japan while a South American Cult obsessed with Big Cats, too, has been found in acts of terrorism.”

" Well, it started out great. We feasted on some great Chinese before we went on a weird trip in the basement. Our friend Little Sister brought us a message, & somehow it involves this painting we found. It’s of Richard & his family – I never knew he had a twin! It was going well right up until I was suddenly aware that my friends were in danger. I hope that I can help them in time. I liked the opportunity to play toward my flaw, even if it was in a minor way. I hated not being in the middle of the action. I loved getting to try out my new rites. My vision gave me some feeling of empathy for Kataryna for the first time."

" So much has happened! Our special place was under attack, & we all did our best to defend it. By the end of the evening, we’d followed the trail of a rival gang to their hideout. It was tough to break through their defenses, but by the time that we did, they were lucky we’d come ‘cause we weren’t the first intruders. We saved them from Richard & his gang of thugs, but Richard got away. I liked the scary prophesy we each witnessed. I hated the revelation that I wouldn’t live for many more years. I loved the description of the Wendigo cairn. I’m gonna come visit you soon."

Tieton, Washington

Negotiations finished, and having secured a guide to the Black Furies of Mount Rainier, Ludwig and Lynne sit on a downed tree as Knows-The-Path helps with the efforts to bury the dead. Not many words have been spoken between the two since their leaving Seattle, with Ludwig deep in confusion and trying to get past the anger he still carries, and Lynne not wanting to do anything to upset him any further.

All the while, though, Lynne has been very concerned. Realizing that she has previously known nothing of his life away from her, and coming to know of him being a werewolf, and the Pack he had been associated with, many questions have been eating at her.

“Ludwig?”, Lynne says.

“Yeah? What’s up?”, Ludwig replies.

Lynne takes a moment to adjust her seating, moving herself next to Ludwig upon the tree. Her hands folded across her lap, and looking ahead of her at the ground – which was still littered with bodies and debris – she says “A lot has happened in the past couple of days.”

“Yeah…I’m sorry for uprooting you like —”

“Oh no, don’t be sorry. My father has gone insane, and you were in danger. Going with you is the only thing I could do, with the shelter gone”, Lynne says, staring blankly, her home of the past several years having been taken from her by her own father, seemingly as an attempt to force her to return.

Turning his head towards her slightly, almost unsure as to what to say, Ludwig responds “We’ll get it back, Lynne…even if I have to storm ”/campaign/wta-the-broken/wikis/tomorrow-shinzui" class=“wiki-page-link”>Tomorrow-Shinzui and take it back by force."

He turns his head back, then looks towards the sky, also staring blankly.

Lynne starts to cry, tears pouring down her face.

“No…you can’t do that! You’ll die! You heard the radio on our way out here – Tomorrow-Shinzui is its own nation now! How are you going to go against a whole country?” Lynne pauses for a moment. “I know you’re tough and all,” she says, “but you can’t take on a whole country by yourself..” Her crying turns into a soft sob.

Broken from the thoughts in his head by her tears, Ludwig quickly turns to Lynne and wraps his arms around her, one hand against the back of her head as he holds her close. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I just…”

“I don’t know what to do.”

Her sobbing letting up, Lynne lays her head on Ludwig’s shoulder, her face turned toward his. “I know I’ve never asked where you’ve gone before whenever you’d leave the shelter…” She sighs softly, then continues. “You’re all I have now, and I’m going to do everything I can to help you. But I need to know what’s been going on. Things are happening, and I have a feeling you know a lot more about these things than most people do.”

Sighing heavily, Ludwig closes his eyes. Knowing he can’t keep the danger from her any longer, he submits; "Yeah. And the reason why we’re going to Mount Rainier right now is so that you can learn more. I’m not much of a teacher. Hell, sometimes I don’t even know what I believe.

“Most of my life has been a series of lies, cover-ups and misdirection.” He chuckles. Motioning towards Knows-The-Path, he says “Our new companion over there seems to believe that the Black Fury tribe who resides there would be well-equipped to be able to teach you about these things, and possibly might be able to help you understand your new found abilities. I can honestly say they’ve caught me completely by surprise.”

“But, about me?” Ludwig thinks for a moment, and then says “I found out I was a werewolf about seven years ago…less than a year after I met you. Sadly, I had my ‘first change’ about a year before that. Werewolves experience their first change under different circumstances, but I wasn’t aware of mine, because I was frenzied – in a bloodlust-driven rage where I have no knowledge or recollection of anything I do under the influence of. I was in a similar state back at the shelter before we left.”

Ludwig continues, "Now here’s the not-so-good part: During my first change, I slaughtered my ‘family’. I don’t speak of it, because for as long as I can remember, I was raised isolated from the rest of civilization. I only knew of ‘Father’ and ‘Mother’ – I never knew their names, as they always referred to each other, even, as such. There were also a couple of other men, who I wasn’t to address. Their names were also unknown.

“I was told that many lies about what existed beyond the walls of the home I was raised in. My education consisted of countless puzzles, be they mathematical, graphical, wordplay or otherwise. I also learned a good deal about science, but never was able to touch a computer, or experience any of the things I was taught about. Over time, I began to question what I was being taught, and why I was never allowed outside, until one day something inside me snapped…

“And the next thing I knew, everyone in that building was dead at my feet, and suddenly, I was free to leave. Nobody could stop me. That’s all I could think of; I never stopped to think about what had happened.”

Lynne continues to listen intently as Ludwig goes on to explain how he was later found by the Sept, and told of the First Change, and about his Tribe and Auspice.

“It seems that Philodox experience their First Change most often in response to a great injustice. Looking back on my circumstances, I realized that I in fact was the person who killed those who raised me. I was also told that I frenzied several other times over the course of the next several months before I was ever aware of it. I actually was told about all of this just before I met you. I’m sure you can remember how I was that day. I didn’t know what to say, what to feel, or what to think. This was all outside of the realm of things I had been exposed to the other sixteen years of my life. I didn’t really trust anyone, and I simply wanted to enjoy my freedom. Most of that went as planned, but I ended up growing to trust one person: You.”

Taking another deep breath, Ludwig says “Thing is…as I spent time with you, and came to trust you, I wanted to protect you from myself. At that point, I had begun to become ashamed of what I am. I was brought into the Pack you briefly met back in Seattle, but I never really was one of them. I was pretty much on my own, but my freedom was restricted. I hated that, but at the same time, I felt as if I needed to be around these people in order to keep myself from harming you. My old mentor, Duncan, taught me what it was to be a Get of Fenris, and in that, I started to teach myself how to fight with this —”

Pulling out his Klaive, he looks down at it and says "I managed to find this not long before I killed my ‘family’. I took it and kept it for myself, not knowing what it was, but knowing that I liked it. Later on, I was told what this was, and its significance – this Klaive is ancestral. Within it, a spirit is bound. This spirit is called Fearsome. This spirit, at one point, told me that I am in fact of his bloodline: of a family called MacPherson. So…

“Once again, I was left confused. Nobody had answers for me, even Duncan. I decided after a while that I was just going to seek my own answers, and not wait around for people to take time from their own agendas to do anything but serve themselves. The Pack decided they didn’t like that, so they took every chance they could to meddle in my business. That all lead up to what happened at the shelter. They followed me, even though I told them not to. They tried to stop me from doing what I needed to do. I quit their damn pack, but they stayed anyway, determined to continue to piss me off.”

Lynne stopped him, “I doubt they really wanted to make you mad. I’m sure they had other reasons for doing what they did. Maybe they actually care about you.”

Ludwig laughs out loud. "If they did ‘care’, then they would have backed off, instead of provoking me and pushing me to the point where I would undoubtedly lash out. Your father didn’t help matters any, but even at that point, they stayed, and got in my way…even when I was in frenzy. The one you were checking on back there? He has a tendency to get himself nearly killed – I imagine he must have a death wish.

“One of these days though, I’m going end up actually granting that wish, whether it’s by choice or not. As far as the other two? One of them likes to openly spy on everything I do, which pisses me off to the point of wanting to wring his neck. The other one? He’s the ‘Alpha’ of the pack, and expects as such that everyone will do whatever he says. He uses this idea to further serve his own agendas. He’s not out for anyone but himself and his own grasps at power. There are others in that Pack than what you saw, but they’re pretty much the same. I have no time for this.”

Pausing a moment, Ludwig thinks about what he just said and says “You know…I think at this point, I’m doing exactly what the rest of them do. I’m following my own agenda. I take care of my own. You, and that homeless shelter are my own. I will do whatever I can to protect both…and those idiots kept me from protecting one of them.”

“I know I can’t do all of this on my own, and to some extent, I guess I’ll need the help of people like them. I don’t like it, but eventually, I’ll have to simply suck it up. I have things to find out about my past…some Weaver-spawn back at the shelter told me that I have some sort of implant in me that is doing something or another. I don’t want to believe him, but at this point with as little as I know about my past,
where I come from, and what I’m doing here…I really have no idea what to believe. I need to find out, and I won’t be able to do that on my own. I don’t have enough control over my rage, though, to be able to keep from killing any of those people if they get in my way.”

Lynne starts to look worried. She says “what about that woman over there?” She points to Knows-the-Path. “She seems to be willing to help us, and look what she did with those people who were fighting over all of the dead people here! She was able to dissolve that problem without much effort. Isn’t she like you? One of the Philodox?” Suddenly Lynne’s expression looks a little brighter, as if an epiphany just hit her.

“Maybe she can help you to understand yourself more…maybe she can help you get your answers!”

Ludwig ponders this for a moment, then smiles and nods. “Yeah, I think maybe she can. It can’t hurt, that’s for sure. I’ll talk to her.”

Lynne smiles back at Ludwig, then cranes her neck up to his face, planting a small kiss on his cheek. “And you have me! I’m in this now, whether you wanted me to be or not.” Her expression turning slight more solemn, she looks into his eyes and says “But from now on, you have to let me help…no more keeping secrets from me, okay?”

Nodding in agreement, Ludwig says “No more secrets. I promise.”

And then, Ludwig started feel a headache come on but he doesn’t realize from where or what, only that it carries of a feeling of… cold logic with it.

Dramatis Personae

Flashback: Ludwig v. Slays-Names

Seven years ago, Slays and Tsuruda Dacchi got stuck with looking into a incident a local pet shop. Slays finds a Klaive there, and in the process, gets jumped by a figure in Crinos. Ludwig, deep in Frenzy, strangles Slays-Names until Tsuruda can help Slays to calm the frenzying Garou down…

Giants.

Ludwig and Lynne are out of gas in Yakima. Ludwig hears booming thunder out in the distance.

THOOM. THOOM.

A dark figure darts at the two of them, fear in her eyes. This new Garou warns them to run, and Ludwig reluctantly follows her. They get off the road, and Ludwig insists to confront whoever is following this new Garou, who he learns rather quickly is mute.

Quickly learning that her name is Knows-the-Path, Ludwig and her devise a quick ambush.

Three Black Spiral Dancers and a GIANT come out to meet them in a fight. Twenty-feet tall and wielding a black-green iron Mace, the giant is the hardest to stop- it nearly tears Ludwig in twain with one of its blows. Knows-the-Path manages to blind it, and insists on leaving, but Ludwig instead suggests just finishing off the massive terror.

As he is about to press a final assault, he watches as the wounds on the giant begin to heal, and its eyes start to regrow. He relents, realizing what Knows-the-Path meant; this is isn’t something he can handle on his own.

Back Up Protocol

Driving their Hummer through the Umbra, the Robot Lords recieve new orders from their Pack Totem, Coyote. The gorgeous latina version of Coyote the three of them know and love conveys their orders in regards to Seattle:

" The big guy has orders for you: there is a Sept in Seattle called the Last Klaive. Join them, earn their trust. When the opportunity presents itself, betray them and infiltrate Tomorrow-Shinzui as best you can. Then, when the time is right, Coyote will tell you when you pull the rug out from under them."

Meeting Helen

Driving along, the Robot Lords run into Helen walking back home to the Sept; Dante quickly identifies her as a Garou. When asked if she knows which way to get to the Sept, Helen lies.

Dante picks up on it, but Conrad and Memphis, as always, ignore him. She seems to convince them a bit, although the direction she points out doesn’t jibe with what Coyote and their own gifts had been telling them.

Memphis cuts to the bone, and uses a Dominance gift on Helen to force her to tell him the truth: Which direction is the Sept?

She tells, and the Robot Lords and Hummer drive off in that direction. Panicking, Helen hurries to find her own pack and warn them of “these strange cyborgs in a hummer.”

Tsuruda’s Bar

Most of the pack is at Tsuruda’s Bar, to inform the drunken Ahroun owner that the Sept will be holding a Moot that night. Still very sort of Drunk, Tsuruda offers them drinks. When offered something to drink, Screwdriver manages yet again to get his favorite drink.

Slays, as always, continues to try and recruit Tsuruda to his pack, feeling the need for another Warrior.

Then Helen comes in, worried look on her face.

She tells the pack of the strangers and how they used a dominance gift to get her to tell them how to get to the Sept. The pack decides to go check it out, just in case the Westward Swords miss it.

Robot Lords v. The Broken

Coming into the Sept proper, the Robot Lords are stopped in their Hummer by the Guardians of the Sept, the Westward Swords. The situation tense, the Westward Swords ask why they haven’t done a proper introduction, and what is their business at the Sept?

Memphis ignores them until they say they are going to get one of their Elders. Conrad puts a sword to the neck of Bryon Blackclaw, as a measure of security. Astrid, one of the Westward Swords, takes a measure of the Robot Lords and feels that they may be dangerous in a fight.

When Kataryna arrives, she silences Conrad and Dante when they try to talk or hit on her. She questions them, and upon hearing their offer to join the Sept, she informs them of the Moot, and that “we’ll see.” She leaves, and tells the Robot Lords that Slays-Names of the Broken will take care of their sleeping and other arrangements.

When the Broken arrive to hear this, they don’t like it that much- these new glass walkers are rude and cocky. It doesn’t take long for a fight to break out between Screwdriver and Dante, with Screwdriver eventually pissing all over the Robot Lords’ hummer. They break it up, and Tsuruda offers to let the Robot Lords crash at his bar.

At the mention of a bar, the Robot Lords immediately follow Tsuruda.

“Bar? Why didn’t you say so?”

Knows-the-Path and Ludwig

Heading southwesterly, Ludwig and Knows-the-Path, in Hispo form, come to a tiny town in ruins, Tieton Washington. Bodies strewn everywhere, with what looks like slash marks made here and there. Every human in the town, that the three of them see, are dead.

Shocked by the dead, Ludwig asks Knows-the-Path what happened. Knows-the-Path, herself still trying to comprehend all of the ghosts she senses, makes the tribal glyph for the Red Talons. Although technically not a crime against the Litany, it still feels like a violation for Gaian Garou to have done this.
Nearby, they hear the sound of a argument between some people. At closer inspection, it is a argument between a pack of Bone Gnawers and a pack of Black Furies. Furious at hearing them fight over the women survivors of Tieton, Ludwig is stopped by Knows-the-Path. The Silent Strider Philodox instead sits down and mediates between the two arguing packs.

Knows-the-Path gives the Bone Gnawers a fetish, which they take in exchange for leaving- after all, they were arguing for compensation at the loss of so many of their kinfolk. Thanking her, the Black Furies start to leave.

She stops them, and in no uncertain terms, lets them know she thinks that they are culpable, especially if they could’ve stopped the slaughter in some way. She demands that they bury the dead, show the proper respects.

Once this is done, Ludwig apologizes, especially after watching Knows-the-Path work.

The MOOT

At the start of the Moot, the only conscious Galliard in the Sept, Screwdriver, is ignored and not given the title of Master of the Howl. Instead, Kataryna has selected Rent-is-Due-Too of the Seawalkers to act as the Master of the Howl.

Screwdriver challenges him for it, but loses at gamecraft to the clever Bone Gnawer Ragabash.

Rent-is-Too-Due starts the Moot, asking Screwdriver to perform the second, mournful howl for all the Lupus and Wolves lost. Things go smoothly, with Father Pisses-Gold acting as Caller of the Wyld. Of course, the old drunk doesn’t necessarily… get it all right…

During the Cracking of the Bone, the Alpha of the Westward Swords acts as Truthcatcher, first asking for grievances then moving on to challenges for renown, rank and sept positions. Ghost-that-Runs challenges for the rank of Fostern, and Pisses-Gold gives him a task to prove himself:

Uh, yeah, challenge, right. Totally kewl with me. Uh, Ghost-that-Runs, you need to go to Rorg’s realm and steal one of his stones without being noticed by the Many-Taloned Hunter.

Ashlar accepts this, and others challenge for other things. Memphis Drives-Fast of the Robot Lords convinces Kataryna and the other Alphas of the Sept to accept him as Sept Warder- through a display of various gifts and kicking the ass off of Bryan Blackclaw.

And Slays-Names, challenged for the position of Gatekeeper. Another Septmate, Kana Thunderservant of the Seawalkers challenged as well, and the two of them engaged in a tense riddle contest to see who was more clever for the job. Kana lost, with Slays-Names using a riddle or two from the Hobbit.

The Revel

After songs and stories- Screwdriver impressed the entire Sept with a stirring rap-tale on his pack’s exploits- Pisses-Gold started a chant. The song rolled over and over; its chanting chorus of:

Fuck the Wyrm! Fuck the Wyrm! Fuck the Wyrm!

Stirred more and more energy in the Sept. It rushed into a crescendo, and Kataryna stepped forward and thrust a fist in the air. As the Wyrm Foe for the sept, she led all of them, in Crinos, on a wild, crazed hunt through the Umbra…

Tieton

Knows-the-Path and Ludwig discuss their next move, with Knows-the-Path suggesting that Ludwig ask the Black Furies to escort them back to the Mother’s Mountain Sept. There, Knows-the-Path suggests, the Black Furies can teach and try to get Lynne on the right path. Also, travel with the Black Furies would be quicker and safer- hopefully.

Ludwig agrees, and learns that Knows-the-Path was supposed to deliver a message to the Wendigo and the Sept of the Last Klaive from Burning-Howl MacPherson. Still curious about her, Ludwig has decided that maybe this Philodox can teach him a new trick or two…

After the Moot

The next day, most of the Broken wakes in the dining room of the MacPherson House, their heads hurting from the big revel the night before.
They wake up to meet a Corax waiting for them. Calling himself Shiny Jack, he’s come to see their Shrine to Raven and pay his respects. He gives them a update on the latest news.

Most of the human world is at war. Several cities are smoking, nuclear craters, and many Garou say that the Fifth Sign is upon us. The sky is yellowish, and it feels as though things are going to get hotter and hotter…

First Steps of Betrayal...

It took Dante about half a day to hack his way into his father’s messaging system. As always, he made contact with him via a holographic interface. This time, Dante knew, he had to sell it and sell it good.

“Dante.”

“Father.”

Virgil O’Neil didn’t look pleased to see his son. “We are going to track you signal pretty soon and-”

“I have an offer for you, if you are willing to take a gamble on me, father.”

Dante’s words, weighted just the right way, caught Virgil off guard. Scratching his beard curiously, the hologram of Virgil raised a hand, gesturing for Dante to continue.

“Well, we currently have infiltrated, uh, what your techs would call a ‘hyperbolic space-time anomaly’; my pack and I are in a position of power here now. I believe you and some of your compatriots might be interested in it…”

And Dante continued to talk, working to help his Pack to eventually become part of the Machine itself. He succeeded at keeping himself from revealing his hand too soon…

After that, Sept Leader Kataryna and Father Pisses-Gold enter and begin the Hearing. Before Screwdriver can explain the story of how the Pack found the Second Caern, Koulter Stormfury breaks etiquette and challenges Kataryna’s leadership- something that is not done. Kataryna beats him, breaking many of his bones, and tells him to keep quiet.

Ludwig offers himself up for his own challenge, but Kataryna flatly refuses him- this was a demonstration for all of the Get of Fenris: she will not kill each and every Get of Fenris in order to prove her competency and she will not rescue someone like Duncan Thrashes-Eyes from Erebus. Clearly her former Warder has sins he must atone for. Kataryna strips the Seawalkers of five of their kinfolk as punishment for their waste of her and the Sept’s time.

With that done, Screwdriver explains how the Pack came to find the Caern of the Phoenix…

…After Ludwig collaborates and confirms his packmate’s tale, Kataryna asks the assembled what they think needs to happen next. Concerned with the loss of the recent seven or so Garou from the Sept’s numbers, Kataryna listens to their suggestions.

Slays-Names spoke up first. “You need numbers? I know where we could get a pack or two- they’d have no problem at all helping us out.”

Bryon Blackclaw seconded the idea, adding: “You could always take up your father’s crown, milady. Become the Queen of the Northwest.”

Neglecting to answer, Kataryna listens to a suggestion from Ludwig instead. He suggests teaching the Kinfolk to fight, so that they can bolster numbers for the time being.

Kataryna nodded and made her decision. " We need numbers; at the next moot, I’m given to understand that we will have a new Gatekeeper. The Guardians will remain the Westward Swords, despite their failures recently; the Seawalkers will continue to maintain our spiritual ties.

" The Broken have proven themselves as of late. I wish to reward that. They will coordinate with our Gatekeeper and be our emissaries to all the other Septs. I’d like them to first make contact with the Red Talons Sept of the Sleeping Ice, but only after they’ve taken the time to let their pack heal and recover from the fighting.

“Also, I am unsure if we should have the Moot this month- the Revel may be too risky.”

Slays disagrees, pointing out that maybe this is exactly the right time for it.

Reticent, Kataryna remarks that she will make her decision before the Full Moon at the end of the Month.

Training Days

After two weeks, the pack has rested some from their injuries at the Battle of the Howling Storm. Ashlar watches Ludwig train Helen’s homeless allies and kinfolk in Weaponry at the MacPherson House. Most of them at first seem to not catch on very well- but some are starting to learn. Ludwig seems to excel as a teacher.

Ashlar’s spying is interrupted when a ghost talks to him. Having staked out from inside Ludwig’s room, Ashlar is surprised to see a little girl with a large claw wound across her face and chest.

“Hello.” She says, and Ashlar asks her who she is.

She is Ashley MacPherson. She remembers one night that a man her father and her Uncle Burning-Howl despised killed her. To obtain some form of rest, the little girl’s ghost explains that she wants to say goodbye to her father, Richard MacPherson.

Ashlar promises that he’ll do what he can, but, well, he is uncertain on that.

Ludwig begrudgingly goes to the basement of the MacPherson House to see Slays-Names. He informs him of this, and Slays-Names tells Ludwig to bring her down. Ludwig asks him if is his going to tell him anything else, but Slays declines sharing much more than that.

Outside, Christine shares a mighty potent brew with Screwdriver, strong enough to knock the Bone Gnawer on his ass and begging for more. Christine refuses, certain that anymore might kill him. When Ludwig returns, he takes Christine down to Slays and comes back outside to continue with his lessons.

But he is interrupted yet again, when Bryon Blackclaw shows up to tell him to get Ashlar. Kataryna wants to talk to Ashlar, now. Blackclaw points Ashlar out, spying on Ludwig from Ludwig’s window. Ludwig throws a rock, knocking Ashlar away from the window.

Ashlar leaves with Blackclaw, and Ludwig starts to feel tired of playing usher for the pack.

Old Friends

Slays gets to have a moment with an old friend of his, Christine. Christine updates him on what has been going with the Whispered Death Sept and in return, Slays tells her of what he and the pack have been up to recently.
“Dillon wanted you to have this, a reminder of home.” Christine gives Slays the bottle of Spirit Brew that had laid Screwdriver low.

“I’ve got a job I’m working on here in Town,” Christine smiled at Slays. “A man named Jeremy Miller. You don’t mind if I crash here for tonight and the next couple of nights?”

“Not a problem.” Slays told her.

Christine leaves, so that she can go to work…

Ashlar @ Kataryna’s

Bryon Blackclaw left Ghost-that-Runs alone in the front yard of Kataryna’s house. A pile of ashes from the Black Spirals she’d killed still smoldered there. Gulping, he climbed the front porch and walked in. Inside Kataryna’s house, he notes a empty cage hanging on one wall, and all sorts of claw marks all over various walls.

Ashlar meets Thomas, a kinfolk- well, he thinks mate, but is uncertain on that point- of Kataryna’s. Kataryna shares a meal with Ashlar. She informs him that she understands about his wanting to hunt down Richard MacPherson, and that she has had her own problems with him. She gives Ashlar her blessing to hunt him down.

After Kataryna and Thomas leave him to finish his steak, Ashlar notices a small photo signed by Bryon Blackclaw. A younger version of the metis Alpha of the Westward Swords and Kataryna together, with the words “for you mother” written on it. Apparently more came out of that horrid memory Ashlar and the Broken saw than just cruelty by Richard MacPherson.

Ashlar leaves Katayrna’s house, chewing over what he’s seen and what Kataryna told him.

Following Christine…

Christine walks past Ludwig and gets into her own rental sedan and drives off.

Ludwig follows her- using a Pinto that Connie and Screwdriver were messing around with, especially since now it has a full tank of gas. Unbeknownst to Ludwig, Screwdriver is in the trunk.

He drives toward Downtown Seattle. As he passes Kataryna’s house and her yard, Ashlar sees Christine and then Ludwig drive by. Ashlar quickly moves, using his Speed of Thought to try and catch up with Ludwig via some shortcuts around Seattle traffic.

Meanwhile, Slays-Names goes upstairs to talk with a packmate- but all of them apparently have ran off. Irritated at it happening again, Slays steps sideways and gets a hold of a Stag-spirit who’ll give him a airt path to follow his packmates with, toward the mess of Webs that is downtown Seattle.

Eventually Christine arrives at the homeless shelter, which Ludwig considers a second home. He follows her into the homeless shelter.

Ashlar soon comes to Ludwig’s pinto, and lets Screwdriver out of the trunk. Screwdriver takes the guise of a Great Dane, but the two of them still had to outwit a Patrol Cop. Both acted fairly crazy, and Ashlar left Screwdriver to continue tailing Ludwig.

Screwdriver, in Great Dane form, cuts across the day by himself, while Ashlar tries to catch up to Ludwig at the Homeless Shelter. Slays-Names emerges from the Umbra and grabs the two of them.

“We’re going to get Ludwig and get home, damn it!”

Meanwhile, in the homeless shelter, Ludwig comes across a shouting match between Christine and a FBI agent in the usual Man-in-Black outfit. Disgusted, Christine leaves instead of wait for Jeremy Miller to appear.

Ludwig questions the Agent, who calls himself ‘Agent Dunlap.’ Quickly the interaction becomes terse; Dunlap offers to tell Ludwig all he wants to know on Project Wotan, but only if he agrees to apprehend a target for Tomorrow-Shinzui and the FBI. The Agent also offers Ludwig a chemical compound that is ‘supposed to give you more Self-Control.’

Ludwig vehemently disagrees, and Dunlap walks away. As Agent Dunlap tries to leave, Ludwig grabs him by the back of the collar of his suit.

Slays interrupts Ludwig, and paralyzes him with his stare. With Ludwig frozen, Dunlap leaves a manila envelope on a table and rips his suit getting free of Ludwig. The ripped suit repaired itself instantly. Dunlap leaves.

Ashlar quickly looks through the manila envelope and sees the target: Richard MacPherson.

Once free, Ludwig tells the pack off, and announces that he’s done with them. He no longer wishes to be a member of the pack. He goes into the back, to see Lynne Miller and checks up on here. Slays and the rest of the pack quickly takes an account of the Homeless Shelter, curious about it now.

RAGE!

Jeremy Miller arrives, bald and goatee and all malicious smiles.

" This is now the property of Tomorrow-Shinzui. It is hereby closed and all of you are on private property- leave now. Go on, leave! Scram!"

Raven informs Screwdriver that he wants Screwdriver to give Ludwig a final opportunity to rejoin the Pack and ask for his forgiveness, or else Raven will turn from Ludwig- and turn from him hard. It appears that Raven sees Ludwig leaving the pack as a grave insult, based on its prior experience with other packs.

Slays works with some the homeless shelter workers to set up a backup shelter at a place he knows is safe.

Ludwig shoves past Screwdriver, telling him that he is done with the pack. He confronts Jeremy Miller, and in turn, Jeremy Miller humiliates and dresses Ludwig down. Ludwig, his Wrath stoked, frenzies.

The broken try their best to try and calm Ludwig down. Homeless panic, and Jeremy Miller flies into full blown delirium.

Screwdriver puts himself in Ludwig’s way, keeping Ludwig’s attention on him. The frenzying ex-packmate nearly kills Screwdriver. But the Galliard has trouble talking Ludwig down until he realizes that Lynne is there, and that she is watching Ludwig with worry.

“Don’t do it for me or the pack, Ludwig, do it for her.” Screwdriver steps to the side and directs Ludwig’s view to Lynne. Its finally enough to give Ludwig control back.

Exits

Ludwig and Lynne go out the back, with Ludwig keeping Lynne from getting too close to Screwdriver.

Screwdriver falls unconscious from the wounds he’s taken. Slays and Ashlar step sideways and take him home. Slays notes that in the Umbra, pattern spiders are working on something geometrical where the reflection of the homeless shelter should be.

Ludwig and Lynne drive until Ludwig runs out of gas outside of Yakima. He drives off an assault of Black Spiral Dancers, but finds Lynne has disappeared. She then reappears. Lynne, it appears, has become a Mage, and has a fascination with the Weaver.

The pack returns to the MacPherson House. They inform Pisses-Gold of Ludwig leaving the pack, possibly the Sept. Pisses-Gold suggests that the Sept may want to find Ludwig, if only to get his Klaive from him. Christine returns to spend the night, dropping off pizza she’d been given free…

Cut Scene: Sweet Old Chicago

Chicago, in front of the Sears Tower, late into the night. A hummer is running, and some is yelling at a very big man in front of the massive skyscraper.

“DANTE, get in the damn CAR!” Memphis Drives-Fast shouted out of a window of the massive modified, glyph covered Hummer his pack preferred.

“Aww, but I wanna record the disintegration wave!”

“You said we had three minutes to get out, remember?”

“Fine.”

As soon as Dante was in, the Robot Lords drove off. Memphis Drives-Fast, his arms and head gleaming with cybernetics, turned to the garou in shotgun, Conrad Slays-Leeches.

“Activate the fetish, Conrad.”

A nuclear blast began to erupt from the city behind them.

“KEWL!” Dante shouted with glee, Memphis had to restrain his urge to cut out Dante’s tongue.

“Coyote, help us.” Conrad muttered.

Glyphs on the hummer glowed, and with a flash, the Robot Lords and their hummer stepped sideways into the Umbra…

Tomorrow-Shinzui; Bringing You Tomorrow

“ I’m Agatha Mackenzie and we are still getting information in the aftermath of the bombings in Chicago, Mumbai, Paris, Beijing and Johannesburg. Coupled with the Red Death and food riots worldwide, open warfare between various nations-

" Oh, we got some breaking news! Tomorrow-ShinzuiCEO and President Virgil O’Neill is making a press announcement- each of the nuclear detonations were directed or centered at their various regional headquarters. We are switching to him- now."

The camera switches to a man in a very expensive dark suit, his hair brown with a thick beard and piercing eyes. Holding a microphone close to his mouth, standing out behind him various cybernetic devices float and move behind him. Figures in large powered armored mecha stood far behind him, the corporate logo of Tomorrow-Shinzui, the outline of a green-blue tree with a infinity symbol and a microchip overlaid on it, emblazoned all over them.

" It the last twenty-four hours, Tomorrow-Shinzui offices in Chicago, Paris, Beijing, Johannesburg, Los Angeles, Dublin, Cairo and Edinburgh were attacked. Dublin and Cairo were able to prevent the detonation of nuclear warheads. Tomorrow-Shinzui as a corporate entity firmly believes that two parties took part in these bombings. Pentex, Inc.- and we can prove without a doubt they were involved- provided and helped to plant at least three of the warheads."

A holographic image of Richard MacPherson’s head suddenly appeared behind O’Neil.

" This man is Richard MacPherson, known terrorist and criminal from the Seattle-Tacoma area. He was seen with a number of middle eastern men, assaulting and planting the bombs in Los Angeles. We believe he, along with some others, form a sort of assault team for Pentex. Another man, calling himself Alexei Balefang planted the bomb at our Chicago location.

" The second group are these three men," O’Neil pauses to switch the hologram to a image of three men. One of them towers over the others, all three of them partially covered in various cybernetic implants, with the tallest one possessing an eye that glows red. O’Neil wipes a tear from his face, but the motion is so cold it just feels ‘fake for the sake of PR.’

" My son and his associates, Conrad Shivinsky and Erik Virtannen. Owners and manages of Robotic Frontiers, the three are known mercenaries. Erik has been accused of killing at least thirty people, all members of various Chicago gangs, while Conrad has been taped doing, well, public decapitations."

The hologram behind O’Neil shifted once more, this time showing a youtube video, date stamped to some point in 2005. In the extreme heavy rain on a expressway, a man no older more than twenty, slices off the head of another man with a sword.

" Clearly these ‘Robot Lords’ as they call themselves also participated; my son was seen near Sears Tower prior to the explosion. It is believed he survived the assault- I received a threatening email from him later that day.

“Nonetheless, my son is convinced he has been experimented upon my company and that we owe him some share of money and control over it. He shall never have it. Agent Dunlap of the FBI, will elaborate.”

Passing the microphone to a nondescript man in a suit with dark sunglasses, O’Neil walked behind his power armored soldiers, ignoring questions from the assembled press corps.

" I am Agent Dunlap of the Special Affairs Division, FBI. I have been authorized by the President of the United States to announce, today, Executive Order 2012-X-10-WOTAN. Due to various foreign affairs and other disasters taxing our government, the President has granted Tomorrow-Shinzui sovereignty and permitted them to with various immunities to be later detailed.

“From now on, Tomorrow-Shinzui shall maintain its own security forces, obviously augmented through their various technological grants. Furthermore, the United States will openly support whatever retribution they choose to execute against Pentex.

“A bill in congress, if passed later this year, will grant Tomorrow-Shinzui the right to take over the police and administration of Seattle and western Washington. As of today, Tomorrow-Shinzui is recognized by the United States as its own Nation.”

The assembled press exploded with questions, and Virgil O’Neil, now ruler of his own nation, gladly took them…

“For eight years, I’ve been surrounded by lies, cover-ups, and power-plays. The freedom I craved was taken from me, and I was put here, with a group of other misfits who happen to have supernatural powers. They’re all self-serving….but maybe I am too?”

“Until recently, I just went with what I was told, and didn’t really question much. I put my past behind me when I slaughtered my ‘family’ back then. Now, though, I’m told I’m a MacPherson…which I sure as hell know isn’t what I was raised as. But…come to think of it…I don’t even know the name of the family I was a part of and killed. I don’t think I forgot, either. It’s more like…that knowledge was never there to begin with.”

“Then…I have that dream – telling me to go back to that building. I don’t know why…but now I feel as if that dream is in line with my own agenda. I want to know what the hell is going on. I got as far as finding some papers in that building, which was surprisingly clean – like it has been kept up on for the past eight years with nobody even living in it. I need to go back and look more…I just have to trace the clues.”

“Problem is…I can seem to take two steps on my own without me being called to save the asses of the ‘Pack’ I’ve been placed in. Black Spiral Dancers – which seem to want something of me specifically too – they have their own agenda. An agenda! What could be driving an inherently chaotic and malevolent group of idiots to actually be organized? Or is it the damn Sept just too busy being nose-deep in their own agendas to even pay attention to when they’re going to be attacked?”

“I get the feeling that Duncan would have had them better prepared. Then again, he always seems to know something that others don’t – kind of like Slays-Names. The difference being that I actually trust Duncan to an extent. As far as Slays-Names? Not as far as I can throw him (and sometimes I really want to test out how far I could actually chuck him). I can’t ask Duncan though, because now the man who was the only guiding hand I seemed to have had in this life as a ‘Garou’ has been taken off somewhere by a spirit of Fenris himself. And something this spirit said has me up in arms too. He referred to me as his ‘chosen’ as he was taking Duncan away to Erebus. What the hell is that supposed to mean? Yet another question that needs answering, and one that I’m going to eventually follow, if not in the near future.”

“While I have these answers I have to find, there’s still the matter of the constant danger that Lynne and the rest of humanity seem to be in. The Sept and the Pack seem to be ignoring it. To hell with them…I’ll fight it all myself if I have to.”

“No…no Ludwig…you can’t fight it all on your own. That would be lunacy. I’m going to need to find my answers first, while making sure that the immediate dangers are guarded against. I need to make sure Lynne is protected. But who can I trust?”

“Ashlar has attempted to reach out to me, with an olive branch that seems riddled with thorns – though, I know how badly he wants to kill this Richard MacPherson guy. He wants to use me as a weapon, but it makes sense. Perhaps aiding him can get some favor in my own direction – he seems as if he does have a sense of honor.”

“As far as the rest of this pack…Screwdriver would probably be my other choice. We’ve clashed in the past – well, mostly I’ve clashed with him out of my stubbornness or eagerness to fight – but when it comes to defending the Pack, he would give his life. Hell, he almost did when the Black Spiral Dancers attacked the Caern. I definitely have a new respect for him. At the same time, he has motivation against the governments of the world, with them slaughtering his kin out of either blind fear…or something else. My bet is actually on the ‘something else’, if the notes I recovered from the place of my upbringing are more than just coincidence. If anyone could be trusted to help me protect my own kin…it’d be him, I think.”

“Helen seems like a plain old coward to me. I’ve been told that she just let a handful of humans die, just to spare her own hide. Perhaps that’s some sort of nuance that I don’t understand about Bone Gnawers, but still, I haven’t really seen her as being all that useful otherwise. I’ll have to keep my eyes on her, to see what her motivations actually are. I have a feeling that there is also more to her than first glance would say.”

“If Claire or the Doc come back, they might warrant another look as well”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this…but I’m actually looking forward to this coming Moot. I need to be listening, and start to get my answers about loyalties. And I think there’s something about Kataryna that I don’t like. A leader should have never allowed the Caern to be attacked…even without Duncan, a backup plan should have been in place…or something. Also, her level of intolerance goes much beyond my own. I’m intolerant of many things, I know…but as for her? She’s far too intolerant of people to be a leader, I think. This whole ‘cut your finger off’ thing…it’s too much. Do I challenge her or not? I’ve never seen her fight, so I can’t speak for her ability. But if she is good…and I lose…will she just simply kill me? Then again…”

“…maybe she’ll banish me as a Ronin.”

“Advantage? Disadvantage? I don’t know. But what I do know is that she is yet another one of those unknowns that need an answer put with it.”

Blood Brothers?

I need your help. Richard MacPherson is a stain on the good name that was MacPherson. Help me find him so that we may cause him the same pain he has caused us. I know you are troubled by the Sept’s apparent inaction but such is the way of bureaucracy too much Weaver and not enough Wyld. They are slow to act because they want a sound plan of action. I however have a plan of my own… It’s dangerous to go alone, I need a Big Stick, a really Big Stick; You, Younger Brother, are that stick. We are going to hunt Dick and slay any foe that stands in our way. We will make him pay for all the pain he has caused and all the laws he has broken. First, however I need to find out if the women I knew as my mother is really truly dead. Help me Ludwig Rages-Truth, you’re my only hope.

Bringing Mercy to Russia

Mercy-Bringer arrived in Moscow, for the Grand Convocation of the Silver Fang tribe. Silver Fangs from every corner of Gaia were gathering- Cliath, Elder, even Legends. It was the first time in living memory that the Garou’s royal tribe had ever even attempted such a Moot.

Well, if Moot was the right word for it.

Mercy-Bringer had no idea what to expect.

Kataryna sent him in his stead, but she gave no explanation as to why- she asked him, he said yes, and that was that. Slays-Names didn’t disagree, or agree. Who knows with the Alpha what his real opinion was.

So, Mercy-Bringer had taken the most expedient of moon bridges and routes to the Mother Land of his Tribe. That first night he had met over fifty different Silver Fangs- Metis, Lupus and Homid, of all Auspices, from all sorts of places. An Egyptian Silver Fang engaged him in a discussion on Pharmaceutical treatments for the Red Death; another from England tried to bait him into a complicated hallucination that Mercy-Bringer was certain was a sign of some sort of psychosis- something about sheep; a Greek Silver Fang woman offered to sell him her Kinfolk, which he wasn’t sure was legal in Werewolf circles or not.

All in all, nothing had happened, yet. But they said the King would soon get ready to call a start, once all the important Elders had arrived.

And so, Mercy-Bringer continued yet another week of waiting as more and more deformed, crazed and mad Silver Fangs gathered.

Revelating Revelations

To: Chandra@seattlemail.com,
Subject: A Revelation.
Tonight heard a very odd thing, a woman who in the presence of Richard MacPherson said she was my true mother. It started me thinking that everything I ever knew was a lie. I am not going to stand idly by any more. I have become a much better shot, as tonight I was able to get a shot at Richard and wound him in the calf… I would have gone for the kill shot however I was told by Fearsome (the Sprit that lives in Ludwig’s, who I am apparently related too as well, klave) that he is to suffer until the end of days. Once my wound from tonight’s battle heals I am going to hunt me some dick. I got shot by a silver bullet, you should see it; it’s going to leave a wicked scar in my chest. Sometimes I wish we could have a normal life together. Each of us is haunted by the ghosts of our past; unfortunately most of my ghosts are still alive. I need to know more about this woman who claims to be my real mother. From the information I have she is possibly an ‘Eater of the Dead,’ she knows Richard, and she is not person in the photo of me and my mother. I am going to use my gifts to sense the women I knew as my mother now that I know that my gift works on the dead, as that is how I was able to find the Caern of prophecy. I need answers let me know what you can find out.

On another note,I think Kataryna is starting to warm up to me. I think I have proven that I am not like my father, which is the main reason she dislikes me so. My father caused her a lot of pain; he has caused a lot of people pain. He is a sick and twisted man. He deserves every ounce of pain we can give him. I hope that I can let her return the favor to him. I think she would appreciate that.
As always, Ashlar McPherson-Green, Hor-Ammon, The Ghost that Runs

Dramatic Personae

Screwdriver, distraught, explained how all of his mates and pups are now dead. A old painting is found in the basement of the MacPherson House, proof of a second Caern in Seattle. Ludwig wanders back to the place he grew up in. The Broken learn the Prophecy of the Last Klaive- and when they try to inform the Sept of this, Black Spiral Dancers attack the Heart of the Caern.

Flashback: Meeting Screwdriver

We learn of how Ashlar and Slays-Names first met Screwdriver, three years ago. Meeting Father Pisses-Gold at a bar, the two of them watch as a horribly badly dressed man wanders in, wearing not much beyond a towel.

“No.” Slays-Names and Ashlar inform Pisses-Gold in unison, but the Elder Bone Gnawer asks them to give him a chance- they need a Galliard, and Screwdriver is a Galliard.

Screwdriver proceeds to wander over and hit on a blond woman at the bar- Ashlar and Slays recognize the woman as Kataryna, the Sept Leader. Pisses-Gold waves Screwdriver over, and asks Screwdriver to demonstrate how good of a Galliard he is. Screwdriver complies- he jumps atop the bar, and begins to bellow out howling rhythms that sound very, very dirty…

…and takes Kataryna’s drink, taking a big swig of it. Kataryna looks at him, and Screwdriver sort of automatically gets off the bar, but not giving up the drink.

Slays and Ashlar decide to keep Screwdriver “because he’ll get mocked more than Ashlar, and Ashlar can go ahead and treat him like crap.”

Screwdriver, overjoyed, asks what this drink with the citrus taste is. Pisses-Gold says-

Battle Outside Fong’s

Screwdriver, Ashlar and Helen (all in Hispo) are attacked by a group of Black Spiral Kinfolk, members of the Generation Hex conspiracy, who fire assault rifles at them. Ludwig, with fair warning from Raven, is running in from his own private mystery, hoping to catch his pack before they reach the fight.

Ashlar dives in first, shifting into Crinos with his lightning fast Metis speed. He rips off one of the Merc’s heads. Helen follows him, shifting into Crinos as well- she leaves her target still breathing.

Gen Hex strike back, firing automatic bursts into Ashlar and Helen- one merc, armed only with a Revolver, plugs a silver bullet into Ashlar’s shoulder and chest. As the silver burns, burns, burns him alive, Ashlar watches Ludwig enter with a charging scream, bisecting one of the mercenaries with his Klaive.

Screwdriver moves on ahead, since it looks like his packmates have the situation under control. Shifts into Lupus to fit though the doorway.

Other mercenaries scream and panic- Ashlar quickly tosses a match into the gasoline leaking out of the van. Helen, Ludwig and Ashlar move away as the van explodes, killing off the rest of the mercenaries.

They follow Screwdriver down into the Caern, each of them shifting into a smaller form in order to fit through.

Battle At the Heart of the Caern

As Slays-Names, Claire and Pisses-Gold enter the Cave of the Howling Storms, a ricochet of a silver bullet catches Claire in the left temple. She is down, and Slays and Pisses-Gold hurry to where the Westward Swords are fighting a beach head of BSD.

Most of the Westward Swords are injured, and they had slain at least four Black Spirals. But its dark, and some sort of fog is blotting out the view of the water from the cave entrance. Slays ignores this, and tries to wander toward a higher place to get a vantage point- one of the Swords, Alia Twilighthowl automatically turns on a Silver Fang gift that causes her to illuminate with Silvery light.

The BSD and their kinfolk allies target Alia, trying to put out the light. Slays moves into the water, stealthily moving with the fetish that Fearsome had given him in the Legendary Realm. They don’t notice him- but Sarah Maneater and her helicopter came around for another pass. She fires the helicopter’s Gatling gun, sending a stream of automatic fire at the mouth of the cave.

Screwdriver barrels into the cave, and attacks the BSD in the fog. The BSD, led by Voljuu Skullfucker, dogpile onto Alia Twilighthowl, first plaguing her through a disease gift, then Skullfucker ripping her throat out. BSD kinfolk emerge from the fog of tear gas, wearing masks, and fire at the Westward Swords.

Ashlar enters the cave and notices the corpse of Oaksong, his head having been exploded from some attacker earlier. He steps sideways, to try and ascertain what is going on in the Umbra side of things. Screwdriver engages Skullfucker, eager to die rather than live without his mates or kin.

Slays throws one of the bigger rocks in the Heart of the Caern at the Helicopter, aiming for Maneater. He knocks the Gatling gun out of the helicopter, and the copter turns away a bit from the Caern. A BSD Ragabash with a revolver fires a silver bullet into Slays-Names’s face in response.

Skullfucker turns on Screwdriver, claws bared. The BSD Ahroun disembowels the Lupus Galliard, who almost goes into a frenzy at the pain of it. But he keeps his control over his crinos form, and continues the fray with Skullfucker- distracting him enough for Ludwig to charge in and finish the job. Ludwig leaves Skullfucker alive enough for Screwdriver to rip Skullfucker’s spine out through his chest.

As for Ashlar, he confronts a BSDTheurge in the Umbral reflection of the Cave. The BSD calls forward his pack’s totem spirit- a massive Bane called Kraken Oily-Tongue-Of-Beast-of-War. Kraken and the BSD almost attack him, but instead both pause, and flee as fast as they can-

“No, not him. He is one of them too. Next time.”

Ashlar looks surprised. At the edge of what he can see, Stag looks like it is still slumbering near the Heart of the Caern.

Back in the Physical world, Sarah Maneater abandons the BSD Theurge and flees as well. No sign why, but the fighting is over as quickly as it started.

Battle Aftermath

Kataryna arrives at the end of the fight, after the Westward Swords have restrained the BSD Ragabash. She carries with her the spines of at least fourteen people, just like Screwdriver’s spine trophy. Apparently she had been attacked at her own the same as the rest of the Sept had been attacked.

Disappointed in the Westward Swords and impressed with The Broken, Kataryna orders all of the Westward Swords to cut off their left index fingers as punishment. They do so reluctantly.

Slays-Names approaches Kataryna about what they’ve learned: there is a second Caern, and the BSD probably were trying to distract them from going to save it. Suspecting something, she pulls him aside away from the rest of the Sept.

“What do you want? How did you learn of this?”

Slays-Names is promised the Sept position of Gatekeeper by Kataryna- so long as he challenges for it during the next Moot like anyone else. Slays agrees, and Kataryna sends him and The Broken to find this Second Caern. Slays-Names goes back to his Pack, and they go off to investigate.

Spirit Talks

A talk with Stag and later, Fearsome, reveals little more than the Pack already knew- both spirits say they should have all they need to find the Second Caern. Ashlar reasons that since the Wendigo were masters of that Caern, they might keep their dead there. Since he still has a hair from Never-Tires, Ashlar uses a Gift to give them a direction to head.

Stag warns that a very powerful spirit was bound to the Second Caern- one who will be bound into the Last Klaive when it is forged. Slays-Names communes with his Ancestors, and learns from one of the Storm Lords the general area of Seattle that they journeyed to reach the Second Caern- some where around Lake Union and the Seattle Center is where the Ancestor points to.

Using this knowledge and Ashlar’s gift The Broken journey until they reach Lake Union. Still late at night, the rain pours around them. Ashlar’s gift points downward, leaving them unsure how to continue. Screwdriver uses his Heightened Senses gift to track the scent of Wendigo to a path that goes through the Sewers. After an hour of hiking, climbing and squeezing, they reach caves under the Sewers.

And deep within those caves, the Broken find a… wooden gate. A series of them, in fact- three gates, each barred from the interior side.

A Dick by Any Other Name…

Ashlar eventually makes it to the top of the innermost Gate, and what he spots surprises him:

The Cavern the Caern is located in is massive, as long as a football field. The ceiling is made of thick transparent Quartz, and blue-black light comes down from it. In one corner, a waterfall rains down from cracks in one part of the ceiling. The bottom of the cavern is brightly lit, covered in green moss and lichen. A few buildings are scattered throughout the Cavern.

In the cavern, Richard MacPherson and about fifteen other Garou stand over the bodies of The Screamers. The fifteen Garou that stand with him aren’t Black Spiral Dancers. Each of them are wrapped head to toe in dark gray wrappings. The Screamers are all unconscious, except for their alpha, whose speech sounds very slurred.

MacPherson clearly is trying to find clues to explain the Prophecy of the Last Klaive and it ties to the end of the Sept of the Last Klaive. Those with him are Silent Striders- Eaters of the Dead, the pack assumes. A wyrmish Bat-spirit is with them in the Umbra. They appear to be doing hit-and-run attacks through the Wheel of Ptah Caern in Morocco.

Just as the pack prepares to do something, the Silent Striders leave, one of which says:

“And next time, we’ll see who gets to tell our Metis child Ashlar the truth of his mother.”

After most of the Eaters of the Dead have left, Ashlar takes a shot and hits Richard in the leg. The rest of the pack- taking a side route via the umbra- reappear just as Richard uses a Pathstone to get on a Moon Bridge and escape with one of the unconscious Screamers- Jumps-the-Towers. Ludwig tries to follow, but lacks the knowledge or ability to properly use a Moon Bridge.

He manages to force one open, and goes through. Not leading to Richard, he tries again and again, until he has to be talked down by Raven and Owl. Owl seems enraged with the Silent Striders, and seeks to do some payback against them for abandoning him.

The Pack returns to the Caern, and helps the two living members of the Screamers. The Screamers leave, but acknowledge Slays-Names for who he really is- they remember the agreement the Fianna and Wendigo had, and they will honor it by giving the Caern and its powerful spirit over to him to protect.

The Pack visits the Heart of this Caern, behind the waterfall. It glows brightly, from the fiery light of the Spirit of the Caern- too powerful to be contained. They walk into the Umbra and see…

Phoenix. Or at least a Phoenix spirit, bound as the Caern’s totem spirit.

Unsure what to do, the Phoenix spirit tells them:

“It is not yet the Time.”

Their ears bleed, for the voice of the Phoenix is so… powerful. They each receive visions in turn, depicting how each of them will die.

Slays-Names sees himself on a ruin-filled battlefield when a random piece of shrapnel takes his head off, all his packmates all dead around him.

Helen sees herself trapped under a piece of fallen debris, when her Metis child appears to cry “die, mother!” and claw out her throat.

Ashlar sees himself sitting in a office somewhere over looking a ruined and burning Seattle- a man with a nametag that says “Dunlap” tells him that the vaccine they injected him with will not only cure the Red Death, but kill all of those who carry the genes necessary to be a werewolf, Ashlar included…

Ludwig sees himself dying of old age, in a cabin, with two young boys who ask him: “Grampa, tell us what it was like when there were Werewolves.”

And Screwdriver sees himself carrying the heads of his packmates, in the MacPherson House. He points a pistol at his head and declares: “No! The Last Klaive can’t be made! It’ll doom us all!” He shoots himself right in the temple.

Bewildered, the pack leaves the Heart of the Caern of the Phoenix, deciding to complete their mission and return to the Sept of the Last Klaive with their news…

To A Girl I Used to Know

Tonight I shared with my mates that I am the Son of Richard McPherson. I was surprised that they were at best indifferent about my parentage. I was also surprised to find that Slays-Names has known this for a long time, and He never told me, after all we’ve been through. I have to find Richard to find out if the ashes in the Urn are my mother’s.

At least now I know what he looks like now and that will make tracking him easier but I’ve also learned he has an identical twin which makes my gift harder to use until I have something that is his. I keep thinking that I am missing something, some important clue; I have to find him. Something weird is going on with the others, there is too much secrecy, and you know how I feel about secrecy. Tonight I learned Clare was kidnapped and came back with wyrm taint. Ludwig didn’t come back from his trip with Slays-names, when I asked Slays about it, he changed the subject. I didn’t press him because I know Ludwig likes his privacy.

Screwdriver’s family has been murdered in all the craziness. I feel for him I do I know what it is like to not have a family. During the thing I told you about, the wise one looked at me, it was like he was telling me that I would have a large part to play in this thing, it does not make me feel all that great. I have a feeling the time is closer to us than we think.

Tonight, I also met Helen’s son, who smells like me and looks like me when I was his age, well except for the horns. I have a feeling that this kid is my brother. I don’t know why she would keep him a secret, he’s a darling boy and I can’t wait to teach him how to shoot and run the way my mentor did… Helen then told us that ole’ one-eye told her that the Cave was under attack, Gaya help us smite our foes.

Home is where the heart is

Ludwig had tried so hard over the past several years to forget about the place he was brought up in. His life outside of those walls was for the most part free, and inhibited only by the Litany of the Sept. He had Lynne, and really, that is all that mattered to him.

For eight years, Ludwig had denied the family that raised him; they were forgotten as soon as he set foot out of that building for the first time, with his Klaive and his freedom in hand, and his ‘family’ dead at his feet. To him, that life died when they did; he killed that life when he killed them.

Only mentioning to Slays-Names that he needed to follow something that came to him in a dream, Ludwig set off with his hammer, his Klaive, and his Resolve without any other word to the Broken. He was going to get his answers. The lies of so many years would be crushed by his Rage.

Meanwhile, in a Hive in Tacoma...

The boiling hot green glow of the Hive was just bright enough to illuminate the fierce, hideous and malformed jaws of all the assembled Black Spiral Dancers.

“Tonight we strike their Caern!”

Most were Metis, and as such, most looked like an assemblage of mutated freaks. Behind them stood the kinfolk, most of which were brainwashed or insane from the things they’d witnessed in the Hive.

“We prove that no new Tribe, however loyal they claim to be to the Wyrm, are no match for the Wyrm’s loyal claws! We dance the spiral!”

Several heads nodded, and some screamed in agreement. A Gaian tribe had, or at least part of its number, had switched to serving the Wyrm. And these traitors had proven themselves to the Maeljin. They had secretive success after success- as Whippoorwill was fond to remind them.

They were failing the Wyrm, and tonight, tonight they would strike back at the idiot Gaians and prove themselves.

Sarah Maneater screamed at the top of her lungs, a roar that each BSD and kinfolk echoed.

“TONIGHT! We will ruin, corrupt, fuck their totem! We will rape and kill their Elders! Their families! We will take those who survive to the spiral! AND We will do it for the Wyrm!

“The Howling Storm is Ours!”

Thirty malformed Black Spiral Dancers chanted:
“For the Wyrm! For the Wyrm! For the Wyrm!”

Dreaming.
Ludwig slumbers, stirring a bit- but his deep sleep is disturbed by a dream.
He sees himself standing upon a vast forest at night. Luna is large in the sky, half her face hidden. This forest is large beyond large- monolith, behemoth in its grand size. It made him look small.
A glowing blue light flowed about the wind before him. Ludwig watched and watched and watched it for what seemed like hours. It sang a song to him, in howls he had learned at the Sept. Of old dreams and wisdom long lost and place never to be seen again.
And it sang his name.
The blue light then flittered, and dropped on to the forest ground. It sank into his feet, and Ludwig felt himself lifted up and up and up…
He saw for grand forest for what it truly was. Rolling hills, rivers, lakes, trees and animals all were a part of it, but he could see every kind of nature in it as well. Deserts with antelope, seas full of sharks and fish, jungle ruled by panthers, hyenas laughing on the savanna, even what looked like ancient humans hunting with spear and fire… Savagery echoed among some, pain was a part of it all.
And he still rose higher and higher above it, until he saw what he really was looking at. All of this great nature that dwarfed him in size, beauty and wild awesomeness, was a single being. A single, grandiose woman of whom he could only see but a small part of. He was looking into one of her eyes, and even then he was floating miles above where he had been before. From here he couldn’t even see trees any more, just greens and browns and yellows. He saw no wounds, and wondered if this was how she was supposed to look- not how she was today.
Her voice then echoed in his mind, and he realized how small he was compared to… her.
“Child. Remember. The Cabin.”
He fell.
Down, down down down. Back into a familiar old place that he thought he’d forgotten. Back before his change, before the Klaive, before the Broken or before he considered asking questions of it at all. The home they raised him in.
He was back there, in his wolf body. The house was empty, yet everything was clean. Everything was where it had always been, before… before his first change…
His paws felt the same cold wood floor. And his sense of smell exploded. He had never smelled the old house before- not with the very sensitive sense of smell Lupus form had. This smell of blood excited Ludwig- he followed it to its source. To a wall, through that wall with his claws, digging, digging digging…
And beyond the wall, in a plate of silver his dreaming claws etched and scratched and he REMEMBERED it.
A old symbol symbol, lost back in a childhood memory.
And below it, the words “Heil Wotan.”
Wotan, the dark god, the forbidden monstrous horror who Fenris warred with for a epoch back in a long forgotten age. Get of Fenris Jarls howled from across the centuries in anger, gushing up through Ludwig.
And as his fury set to boil, to fly into full rage-
“Child. Remember. Go Back.”
Her voice, Gaia’s voice, stirred Ludwig, who awoke covered in sweat.

He realized that he needed to go ‘home’. Alone.

==+

Meanwhile, off in a basement deep in Central Washington, three men in black suits watched the screens in front of them buzz with activity. Recruited from various government agencies, they had been watching Ludwig’s progress closely. Much covert gov’t funding was riding on their success.
“Looks like Subject 15D-70AT is coming back.”
“Maybe we can take the opportunity to bring him back in, sir?”
“No, lets see if his implant will activate Gamma protocol. I’d like to see if this MacPherson kid can fully resist the programming. If he finds anything that might be too revealing, we’ll bring him in. O’Neil and Tomorrow-Shinzui can try something new on him.”
“Understood sir.”

The Director walked out of the room, past the rather logo on the wall behind him that proclaimed “Project: Wotan.”

The five of them chow down, with Screwdriver appearing in Lupus to eat a box of BBQ pork- the first time anyone has directly seen him in the last three or so weeks. With a depressed look in his eye, Screwdriver shifts to his very unfashionable Homid form, picks up a “fork” (read: knife) and continues to eat.

After Ashlar explains how Never-Tires died and how he found her, Ashlar reveals to the Pack that he is Richard MacPherson’s son. He expects them to be disgusted or enraged at him, but instead, the pack nods at this information and moves on, to Ashlar’s surprise. If anything, Slays-Names seemed to have already known this information, which Ashlar finds a bit disturbing.

Helen explains her own exploits, including her vicious fight with a Fomori near Pike’s Market. She avoids letting anyone know that Richard is the mother of her own Metis son, Cassie. She intimates that they need to look into Pike’s Market, that there is a Hellhole there that might need some serious clearing out.

What do you think you jackass? All my family is DEAD!

Then Screwdriver takes a swig of something brownish looking and smelling of bleach, and explains why he is so dour. All his mates and pups have been slaughtered in the recent wolf killings. He wonders if it is possible to raise them from the dead- Werebears gets mentioned, but Slays-Names says that one of them wouldn’t be interested in that- despite what skepticism Helen has for it.

Screwdriver looked to see if any of his family was alive, but ended up caught by loggers. He and other wolves were taken, but a PETA protest managed to stall the truck that was carrying them. A riot broke out, and Screwdriver took the chance to duck out and disguise himself as a Dog via his Anybeast gift. He knocks some heads, but couldn’t save any of the wolves.

He saw so many dead wolves hanging on a fence line. A sad tale that depresses most of the pack, and Screwdriver downs most of the bottle in his hand.

She doesn’t remember much, just black. Madness. Men in black suits at Pike’s Market. She is glad for the food, but doesn’t understand how she got back to the MacPherson House. Ashlar checks Claire for Wyrm-Taint, and they find some on her.

Helen performs a Rite of Cleansing (with the rest of the pack’s help and teamwork), clearing Claire of the Wyrm-taint.

Its after that Screwdriver emerges with a jar of peaches from the basement. Ashlar, now curious, and knowing that no one has really checked out the basement since they moved into the MacPherson House. He goes downstairs and comes up with a weird painting he hasn’t seen before.

The MacPherson Family Portrait depicts a large number of people, probably family- the label on the bottom of the frame says “MacPherson Family At the Caern of the Last Klaive.” This greatly interests Slays-Names, since in the back ground is a waterfall, something that is not in the Caern of Howling Storms. There is also a pair of twins, both fully grown men, with a younger woman at their side and a giant of a man with white hair standing behind them.

Meanwhile, Helen steals all of the fortune cookies and hides them up in her room (the attic). Screwdriver tries to get Connie to go retrieve some items for him, but catches him pissing into a bottle.

They have questions, and Little Sister offers to answer them through the Rite of Lost Memory. She suggests that they might learn more of location of the second Caern, that she says " The Storm Lords gave it to the Wendigo to guard as a peace offering."

The pack sits still and prepares to drink hallucinogens and experience memories past…

Little Sister guides them, but warns them that the streams that memories flow upon can mislead and take them astray. Once they close their eyes, she begins to chant in her own strange reptilian tongue. They see a vision of 1920s Manhattan, and a long silvery dragon breathing fire on a group of Black Spiral Dancers.

“No, not there. Come along…” She speaks as though from a distance… They continue to move, back and forth.

They saw then saw a forested coastline, and five figures riding on horseback through it. Seattle, before it was a even a city. 1804 or 1806 or whenever it was that the Sept was founded. They watched as the five horseback riders faded into the distance- things shift over.

Now they see a cave, with a waterfall- the same Caern depicted in the MacPherson Painting they had found earlier.

A black-skinned, emaciated man stood by himself in the shadows, watching the five of the riders. The Storm Lords were gathered around a campfire, talking about what to do next with the Wendigo conflict they were stuck in. The campfire suddenly burst into blue flame, and the Storm Lords all grew silent.

“The Last Klaive will break prophecy, slay Gods, warp worlds & slay the one who carries it- for it will shatter after that Last Day.

“Broken glass shall forge the Last Klaive, it shall be forged only after the blood of kings flows freely and a plume snuffs out the Weaver’s spire. You will keep this prophecy secret until the Pack of the Last Klaive brings it forth, screams dying, swords broken and the last great spirit’s head bowed.”

The entire time, Owl stared directly into the eyes of Ashlar, a sad look as the Owl seemed to be looking through memory and time right onto him.

As the spirits vanished, the five Storm Lords looked at each other. They started to concoct a plan for their conflict with the Wendigo.

The Broken, on the other hand, felt the memory fade away. They all woke up with massive headaches. Little Sister was gone, the sound of wings flapping out in the rain. She did all she was willing to do- as she put it, her own people did not even want her to say what she said. Too much bad blood between the Mokole and the Garou.

The after effects leave some of the pack bent over with vomit- others. Slays-Names and Claire leave, as Slays-Names decides that he needs to inform the rest of the Sept on the second Caern.

After the pair of them leave, a crowd of homeless people with umbrellas and cardboard boxes walk toward the MacPherson House. Helen recognizes them- those Homeless she considers friends and allies. Most of them are younger men, all carrying weapons of some sort- clubs, boards, baseball bats and even one or two shotguns.

They’ve come after they heard that Helen’s home had been attacked after she’d been out. Convinced that she now needs some form of guard for the house, they start setting up tents in the front yard. They put a tarp over Helen’s head in the front yard and a they gently set down a wooden crate. A homeless woman apologizes:

“Sorry, but we couldn’t really keep him there anymore, but at least here we can have an easier time keeping an eye on Cassie.”

They open the crate, and a two-year-old Metis child crawls out, shaking his head. Half as tall as Helen, Cassie rubs his eyes and smiled up at his mother. Screwdriver and Ashlar exchange looks.

“Pa?” Cassie sniffs Ashlar and points up at him. He gives helen a wanting look, and asks again: “Pa?”

“No,” Helen chides him, a bit uncomfortable with the situation.

Screwdriver sniffs Cassie and notices that the little Metis smells a bit like Ashlar- something that Ashlar picks up on as well, and he tries to get a straight answer from Helen on it. She refuses to talk about it, not willing to open up on the subject just yet.

At Fong’s, Claire and Slays-Names arrive to find the restaurant closed, the lights turned off- which makes sense, because it is after midnight. They enter, finding a snoring Father Pisses-Gold, not much anybody else. Slays-Names wakes Pisses-Gold, and begins to explain about the “second Caern.”

XP SPENT

Helen? Help me HELEN!

Moon Phase: New Moon

Its been two weeks for The Broken since the Trial by Combat of the Wereraven Ellie, and Rite of Accomplishment for Ludwig Rages-Truth. Now one of the three cubs in the pack is a true Garou, attaining the rank of Cliath (1) and earning the deed name “Rages-Truth.” Unlike what most of the Sept thought would happen, he remains a member of the Omega pack, the Broken.

Zander is little crazy, geeky Tom is infatuated with Helen’s striking looks, and Horner is a plain old Heroin addict. Helen needs some considerable convincing to come along, thinking that these three are out to trap her or something.

Unbeknownst to Helen, Zander has fallen under the influence of the Wyrm, and is convinced that leading her to Old Rachel will earn him a great blessing.

So they head to Pike’s Market, where Old Rachel has been sleeping in a abandoned building. Along the way, Horner buys a block of heroin using money given to him by Tom- keeping the addict nice and high for what happens next. They enter the old, rundown brick apartment building through a fire escape, avoiding the broken stairways.

Tom, Horner and Zander led Helen to where Old Rachel has taken shelter. They break their way in, with Tom hurting his foot in the process. Old Rachel appears to be sleeping, and the room is covered in cats. Cats that are losing their hair, and look to be covered in the red pustules of the Red Death.

Helen attempts to perform the Rite of Cleansing on Old Rachel, using a old bottle of Jack Daniels. Partway through, however, Old Rachel interrupts her. The old woman’s body writhes, lengthens and grows claws and couple extra pairs of eyes. Pustules thrum and pulsate all over her body, as all of the cats merge their flesh with hers. Old Rachel has become a Fomori, a human possessed and twisted in form by a Bane.

Helen shifts into Crinos and slays the newly born Fomori, sending its possessing Bane fleeing into the Umbra. Helen peeks into the umbra and sees that it is swarming with banes, that the umbral reflection of this place is a Hellhole. She instead turns to try and leave.

Meanwhile, Tom and Zander fall to the Delirium and flee as best they can. Tom goes down the stairs, breaking his leg- while Zander takes the fire escape. Horner follows Zander, withstanding the Delirium enough to steal Helen’s medicine bag.

For Tom, the stairs collapse underneath him. With his legs broken, he cries out in pain and tries to crawl out of the building. He finds a pile of bodies in the hallway he is in, all dead from the Red Death.

One by one, each of the dead arises as a zombie. They grab Tom, and eat him alive. Tom screams over and over:

“Helen help me! Help me Helen!”

But to no avail, for as a Bone Gnawer, Helen feels more need to flee and survive than stay in a dangerous wyrm-tainted building with strangers. She ignores him, and walks away.

Horner manages to fed Zander to the zombies, and he flees as well, choosing to enjoy his heroin while he can.

The canister contains some sort of tear gas that threatens to knock the two of them unconscious. They step sideways into the umbra, using one of the many mirrors kept in the House for that purpose.

In the umbra, they receive a message- a piece a paper wrapped in a knife lands at their feet. The area outside the house surrounded by Banes in the Umbra, being invaded by BSDs in the physical world, they read the message.

There is a ziploc bag of black hair attached to the letter. The paper smells of a familiar scent to Mercy-Bringer- his ex’s perfume. The letter explains that they have taken Helen, and that’s it. This drives Mercy-Bringer to Frenzy, and he dives into the Banes outside the house, ripping into them one by one.

Ashlar doesn’t stop him, and instead reads the letter. He tries to discern if the hairs are Helens or not by scent- but the smell of the perfume is too strong for him go through. After Mercy-Bringer has calmed down and all the enemies have fled, Ashlar explains that he can use Sense of the Prey gift to find Helen and rescue her. The two immediately head out, going back to the physical world.

Ashlar leads them to a old warehouse near Pioneer Square. It too has dead bodies that arise as Zombies, and the two of them rend through them quickly enough to get to the warehouse’s office. In the office, they find it covered in blood and in the middle of it, the limp body of Never-Tires, the Wendigo elder. Her skull is open, her brains clearly missing.

Ashlar and Mercy-Bringer take her corpse back to the Sept Leaders. Ashlar is open with them on the nature of the killing- he believes it was done by someone who knew the forbidden Silent Strider Rite, the Rite of Dormant Wisdom. Despite being accused of killing her, Kataryna and the Elders agree that Ashlar probably had nothing to do with it, and work to inform the Screamers about it. They thank him for telling them.

The two of them return to the MacPherson House, finding a confused Helen, who has seen the Black Spiral Dancers’ handiwork. Graffiti and curses and Wyrm sigils have been spray painted all over the living room of the MacPherson House. On one wall spelled out is: “Fwk Ur Muthr!”

Cutscene

Three servants of the Wyrm meet, to discuss what has happened so far. Richard MacPherson, Sarah MacPherson and a Silent Strider Eater of the Dead fill each other in.

" Do you know where the Wendigo’s secret Caern is hidden?" Richard asked.

“Yes. Not far from her mind, in fact. Our son came there-”

“And my ex too. They were close to finding out.”

“Doesn’t matter. The Wendigo’s Caern is ours. No one else at the Sept of the Last Klaive knows of it, and that will lead to its downfall.”

The two of them run through the Umbra in Lupus, moving quick. They soon find themselves in a harsh, cold land who looks more and more like what the Tribal Homeland of the Get of Fenris must look like. They arrive at the gate to the Tribal Homeland, to find it guarded by a twenty foot tall spirit in Crinos form.

Ludwig and Slays-Names introduce themselves to the big spirit acting as bouncer for the Homeland. It only responds to them in growls. Unsure what to do, Ludwig attempts to explain what he and Slays-Names are there.

Begrudgingly, the spirit turns its head, and calls another to come up to them. A blond Get of Fenris Ancestor Spirit in a kilt walks up.

“Hello! My name is Bjorn Scars-the-Wyrm- what can I help you with?”

Bjorn turns out to be a Loki and Viking. He died fighting a Fiann MacPherson in dark ages Scotland. He wishes to have a re-match. The Guardian spirit explains this, and agrees to share what it might know on the Klaive and its connection to the two of them if they help Bjorn find the MacPherson (a ancestor of Ludwig’s) in the Legendary Realm.

The two of them agree to take the quest. Slays-Names finds a Ox-Spirit who guides them on a Airt path to the Legendary Realm. So they go questing through the Legendary Realm, through grand cities and kingdoms ruled by heroes. They travel northward, hearing tales of the oncoming Fimbulwinter that seems to have grown worse recently.

They come to a grand Castle surrounded on one side by summery pine forest, and on the other by the cold tundra. The Fianna who man the Castle let the three of them in, and take them to the Throne Room, where their lord, Fearsome can meet them. They meet the lord of this place, who grants Bjorn the chance to get his rematch with the MacPherson that killed him.

Fearsome explains that he is the one who inhabits the Klaive as its empowering Spirit. He is the last of the White Howlers, and that all of his descendants are called MacPherson, or Son of the Fearsome. Slays-Names is revealed to Ludwig to be a Fianna and a MacPherson, something that will not be well accepted if revealed to the Sept as a whole, since they executed all of the Sept’s Fianna over ten years ago.

Flashback

We learn that Slays-Names saved the life of Ashlar years ago, from a Nexus Crawler. He did this as a favor to a Gurahl called McDougall. The Nexus Crawler was known to Slays-Names, for he knew its particular ban, the sound of its own name.

The Man From Chicago...

“Hello and we’re back- This is CIN News, up to date and never late!”

“I’m Agatha Mackenzie and here is the latest news from around the world.

“Red Death continues to ravage South America, India, and Africa. In Bolivia food riots have continued into their eighth day. Haiti has been declared a No-Man’s Land, with most of its population believed to be dead from Red Death or starvation. Spain, Italy, Poland and Turkey have all formerly requested aid from NATO, but riots are starting to spread in those countries as well.

“Red Death has now claimed a estimated 351 million. More significant figures for food shortages and riots suggest that perhaps up to double that number are dead.”

Agatha then turns to face another Camera. A image flashes on the screen, some ridiculous logo declaring ‘World in Conflict.’

“Pakistan and Indian relations have finally broke down, and Pakistan officials blame India for the Red Death. The White House declined to mention what its response to the heightening tensions between both countries will be- but skirmishes have been reported along the border they share.

“Red Death has also sharpened tensions between North and South Korea. North Korea has announced a plan to ‘curb the cruel bioweapons of the South.’ This past weekend, the North Korean government denotated a thermonuclear weapon off its coast.

“And Japan-Chinese relations have distingrated as well. Japan and Taiwan have both reported finding multiple Chinese espionage agents working within their borders. China denies any involvement, including the assassination of the Japanese Prime Minister.”

Agatha then turns again, to yet a third Camera angle. A new image with a logo flashes on the screen. It declares “Cure In Sight.”

" In the aftermath of the passing of the CyberSol Emergency Merger bill, the new corporation claims to have developed a vaccine for the Red Death. CyberSol, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, DNA and various other cybernetic and software corporations merged to form Tomorrow-Shinzui."

A man appears on the screen, middle-aged with a thick beard. His dark brown hair contrasted with his icy cold blue eyes- the look of a man who has the willpower to reorder the universe and damn the chaos that might challenge him. He doesn’t smile, but raises a hand.

“This merger has already been instrumental for humanity. The VC-235 vaccine will eradicate the Red Death and hopefully eliminate whatever genetic aberrations spawned it. Tomorrow-Shinzui will continue to strive to uplift humanity during this trying time.”

The screen flashes back to Agatha.

“That was Virgil O’Neill, new CEO for Tomorrow-Shinzui. This is good news for O’Neill, whose own son Dante has been accused of terrorism after founding Robotic Frontiers three years ago. No word yet if father and son have yet reconciled.”

Everybody needs Somebody...

Back in the shelter’s kitchen, as Lynne went back to cooking for the many people filing in to seek refuge, Ludwig took up to washing dishes. Having helped out around the shelter while he lived there, he went about the work as if he had done it a million times before. As the two caught up – it had been about three months since they had seen each other – the recent events Ludwig had come to knowledge of and witnessed first hand continued to tear at him. To others around the shelter, he was just the same old Ludwig they had known for so many years. But to Lynne, something was obviously not right.

“So when are you going to tell me what’s bothering you?”, Lynne asked.

Ludwig glanced over, as he set a clean plate on a rack beside him to dry, a cold, nearly emotionless look about his face. Lynne had seen that look before, and this time, after having not seen her best friend for three months, she became even more worried. Food cooking, she walked over to the sink, set her delicate hands upon Ludwig’s chest, and stared him straight in the eyes.

“I know that look, Ludwig…please tell me what’s wrong. I haven’t seen you in so long, and I worry about you every day. And right now, you’re scaring the hell out of me.”

Taken back by the thought of scaring the only person to mean anything to him, Ludwig broke from that which was in his subconscious, his attention entirely focused on Lynne.

“Lynne…”, he said. “…There is a lot going on in Seattle, and all over the world right now…”

Ludwig nodded. “But there are other things. I know I don’t tell you anything about my dealings outside of here, but I just want to keep you safe. And right now…I don’t know if I can do that.”

The sternness in Lynne’s stare softened, seeing a side of Ludwig that only she has ever been allowed to see before. She thought for a moment about how to respond, then in an attempt to lighten his mood, she smirked and said “I can take care of myself, you know! I’m older than you, after all!”

This didn’t cut through Ludwig’s concern at all. Now she was really worried.

“You’re all I have in this world, Ludwig”, Lynne pleaded. “If something is wrong, I wish you would tell me so I can help.” She reached up with her right hand, cupping Ludwig’s cheek within it.

Shaking his head slightly, and taking her hand in his, the coldness in Ludwig’s gaze faded some. “You can’t help with this, though. You just can’t. It’s…”

Ludwig paused.

“…I can’t explain it. This is something that I have to take care of. There’s a war coming.”

Startled, Lynne dropped her hands, and took a step away from Ludwig. “What do you mean ’There’s a war coming’?! Are you trying to scare me? Just what are you doing when you leave here, anyway? Did you enlist in the Army or something?!” Tears began to roll down her face.

“No, Lynne, nothing like that…I just mean that, well, you’ve seen the news, right? The whole world is up in arms about this disease that nobody can explain – "

Lynne stopped him, “Then why did you say it’s something you have to take care of?”

As she glared at him, her sadness giving way to a hint of anger, Ludwig knew that the cat was out of the bag, so to speak. Now the only question was how to tell her the truth – she deserved that much.

“I don’t know how to tell you this in a way that won’t make you think I’m insane”, Ludwig began. Thinking for a moment, Lynne pleaded “Just tell me. It’s me here…you don’t have to hide things from me.”

Ludwig nodded slightly. This much was true. Lynne had always been there for him, for the past 8 years since stepping into the real world for the first time. There was nobody else, anywhere, that he trusted at all. But this woman was different. Lowering his head and putting his weight onto his back leg in thought, he realized that he had to tell her straight out – but this wasn’t the place to do it.

“Can we go somewhere else where we can talk?”, Ludwig asked. “There are too many ears here, that just don’t need to hear this.”

Lynne nodded, and looked back at the food she was cooking. “Let me find someone to take over with this, and I’ll go wherever you want.”

Outside, walking closely side-by-side, Ludwig and Lynne headed towards their favorite place to spend time together: the pier. Both were extremely quiet – the fear Lynne had shown had left her, turning again into concern for the man she had grown so fond of over the years. This is the man who had protected her so many times, both from the gangs of Seattle and her own father, the reason she ran away from home so long ago to begin with. This man was the only person she has truly been able to count on, no matter what. In that moment, she wanted nothing more than to return kindness – to protect Ludwig from whatever it was that had him so spooked.

Ludwig’s silence was especially deafening. At all times, he has been vigilant as to any trouble that might occur, but this time was especially so. The Wyrm was making its move. The Red Death had spread all over the world. Humankind was in a panic. He had plenty to be watchful for, but at the same time, he now had to protect Lynne from the truth of what he is. For once, he was actually afraid.

Suddenly, Ludwig’s gift for sensing malice about him stopped him in his tracks. It was all around them, but there was something odd and yet familiar about it at the same time. A small gang stepped out from the shadows of the alleyways surrounding them. Lynne rolled her eyes, as she has seen first hand what has happened to gang members who have messed with Ludwig before. Ludwig, however, was on guard. There was more to this group of six than there appeared to be. After what felt like an eternity, Ludwig spoke up.

“You guys should turn around now. You don’t want trouble.”

“Oh sure we do!” one of the scrawnier of the gang exclaimed. “There’s just two of you, and six of us. And besides: we were told that you were all sorts of fun, Ludwig!”

Now a bit shaken, Lynne thought to herself “How do these people know Ludwig’s name? What is going on here?” She looked over at Ludwig, who lowered his head a bit.

“Oh so you’ve heard of me, huh? Then you must have heard what I do to punks like the lot of you who think they have something to prove.” He grinned. “Oh and, I imagine you’ve also been told that you are in fact the ones who are outnumbered.”

The six began to laugh hysterically, almost maniacally. “Alright then, come get me then, funny guys.”, Ludwig demanded.

As the gang charged, a quick glance was all Ludwig needed to determine his defense. The first to reach him was met with a fist to his face, sending him flying back ten feet. As the second quickly approached him from behind, Ludwig flowed quickly to strike him squarely in the cheek with a spinning backfist from his other hand. Still spinning, Ludwig used the momentum to send his right foot skyward, connecting with the chest of another lunging gang member. The momentum now carrying him into a backflip, his next strike was with a side kick into the stomach of another. As he landed, he dropped into a sweep, knocking the feet from under the fifth, a haymaker from both fists crashing down on him to the ground. The last gang member, jumping over the limp body of one of his unconscious cohorts, met a powerful uppercut, which sent him flying several feet in the opposite direction.

As Lynne looked on at the fight – if one could call those few seconds a “fight”, she couldn’t help but be once again amazed at Ludwig’s performance. He had never shown any amount of fear in any fight he had met before, and he always won. These fights always seemed to end faster and faster though, as his skills continued to sharpen. Six people with only seven hits, in what could not have been more than five seconds. Her amazement quickly left, as another group of people leaped out from the shadows.

Ludwig chuckled. “This is how you freaks have fun now, sending defenseless humans at me?”

Four more people had now come into the fray, but these were unlike the gang members Ludwig had just effortlessly toppled. A baseball bat in the hands of one, and broken bottles with the others, these people were misshapen and seemingly disfigured. Lynne looked on, as this was unlike any confrontation she has seen Ludwig in before. Fear flashed across her face.

While unknown to Lynne, Ludwig knew very well what he was facing. Black Spiral Dancers. The stakes had changed. Knowing their capacity for violence, and their unpredictable nature (along with the memory of what one did to Screwdriver), he knew he had to end this battle quickly. He reached around his back, drawing his Klaive from his belt, and dropped into an entirely different stance. Lynne looked on, her hand to her mouth in shock, as she had never seen Ludwig actually use the blade he always carried with him. Her fear had her shaking now, and she backed herself away.

Not allowing his Metis opponents a chance to strike, a flash of rage streaked through Ludwig’s eyes a split second before he dove at the Black Spiral Dancers. The spirit within his Klaive seemed to scream in delight through him as Ludwig dashed from target to target, carving at each with the gleaming blade. As he came to rest on the other side of the Black Spiral Dancers, he returned his Klaive to his belt, and the Metis abominations fell dead, each cleaved in two at various angles before they could even make a move. Breathing deep, Ludwig felt a brief sense of relief, until a shriek of terror rang out from behind him. He turned quickly, the color draining from his face as he knew the source of the scream.

Behind him, two more Black Spiral Dancers had emerged. One held Lynne’s arms, as she flailed helplessly, and the other held a broken bottle a few inches from her throat.

“You don’t want this girl, Ludwig! We’re your real family! You’re going to come home with us now, after we cut this girl into pieces…it’s going to be so much fun!”

Fear overcame Ludwig. He struggled to contain the rage which was building up quickly. The only thing now keeping him from flying into a frenzy was the fear that was overpowering him. Growling and snarling as his features started to distort, he looked into Lynne’s panic-stricken eyes.

“I’m so sorry, Lynne…this is not how I wanted to tell you. This…is what I truly am. And you two…” He glared at the two who had made the unforgivable mistake of touching Lynne…

“YOU TWOAREDEAD!!!”

As he roared his judgement, Ludwig transformed into his Crinos form. Lynne could not believe what she was seeing. Where her friend previously stood, was now a ten-foot-tall wolfman, bearing down on the two who had held her hostage. But she knew as she looked into the wolf’s eyes…this was Ludwig.

As the Black Spiral Dancer holding the broken bottle moved to slash Lynne’s throat, one large clawed hand shot towards him, splattering him against the wall behind him. In the next instant, Ludwig grabbed at the other, ripping him from the arms which had been pinning Lynne. He held the now-armless Metis above his head and roared before throwing him down on the ground and crushing him underfoot. As all the Black Spiral Dancers now lied dead at his feet, Ludwig looked up towards the sky and howled in triumph, his voice echoing through the entire city.

The crisis now over, Ludwig returned to his Homid form, dropping to his knees. He reached for his coat, which he had thrown aside before making his attack with his Klaive, and threw it over his shoulders, to cover his now naked body. He looked down at the ground, ashamed of what he was now more than ever, and fully expecting his friend to have lost her sanity upon seeing his true form. He began to weep silently, when a familiar hand reached out and touched his cheek. Knelt beside him, and gazing at him with her bright green eyes, was Lynne, tears running down her face.

“I’m so sorry Ludwig! I’m so sorry…I never knew.”

Ludwig couldn’t believe his senses. He shook his head, trying to absorb what was going on here. Was he imagining this? There was no way this could be. People go mad when they see a werewolf in Crinos form. This couldn’t be Lynne…but it was. He felt the warmth of her presence that he had always felt before, and the look in her eyes was the same look she gave him every time he had to leave to return to the Sept.

Lynne threw her arms around Ludwig, and wept into his shoulder. “I’m so sorry…it must be so terrible for you…”

Ludwig smiled slightly. The one person who had been there for him his whole life thus far – the only life he recognized – truly understood how he felt, especially with knowing now the burden he carried. He brought one arm up, and laid his hand on the back of Lynne’s head, holding her close.

“I’m so glad you’re safe, Lynne. I don’t know what I’d do without you around.”

Later on, as they sat on the pier where they had spent so much time together in the past, Ludwig told Lynne everything. The truth of the Red Death, about the Black Spiral Dancers, and of the Sept. The veil had been parted, against the ways of the Sept, but Ludwig did not care. The Sept could be damned, as far as he was concerned. His duty was to the woman he had grown to love, whether he knew to call it love or not.

“Lynne, the war is coming…and I have to make sure you’re safe. Nothing we’ve ever faced together will ever compare to this. I know that your place is at the shelter, taking care of those who have been affected by all of this. I wish you would come with me, but please at least keep this with you.”

Ludwig reached into his coat, and pulled out a extendable steel baton, which he placed in Lynne’s hand. “If you’re ever in trouble, I will be at your side as quick as I can…but I want to make sure you can stay alive until I get there.”

“I understand,” Lynne said."

Looking into her eyes, Ludwig says “If shit gets too bad, I will get you away from here. I can’t lose you, Lynne.”

Smiling, Lynne leaned in and kissed Ludwig on the cheek. “I know you will. When it comes down to it, I’ll go wherever I need to go, as long as you’re with me,” she said.

Standing up and helping Lynne to her feet, Ludwig smiled at her and says, “Alright, let me show you how to use this baton.”

A new determination and sense of purpose in his mind, Ludwig spends two weeks with Lynne at the shelter, doing what he can do to help humankind, remembering that all are Gaia’s children. The Litany applies to everyone; not just the Sept. He enjoys the time he has with Lynne Miller, knowing that she now really does know everything about him. Now that Lynne knows the truth, she does everything she can to learn how to fight to defend herself and others who can’t defend themselves, and to fight for what is closest to her heart.

Now for the News You Deserve!

The pretty black haired anchor smiled a smile full of too white teeth, while people pretended to mill around behind her. To give you that ‘real newsroom feel.’

“I’m Agatha Mackenzie and here is the latest news from around the world.

“Red Death has now claimed over 50 million victims. World disease experts have reported that the disease can be traced back to a canine carrier virus. Since Red Death first emerged in the United States, it is suggested that resurgence of Wolf populations in the last decade probably led to the rise of the Red Death. Virulogists caution that since it can be carried by Canids, action should be taken to reduce the risks of further outbreaks.

“The President has sent out a executive order authorizing the large scale hunting and execution of all wolves within the borders of the US, and the United Nations is believed to put out similiar orders later this week.”

Not here. Don’t look for me. If I see any of you before I come back, I will break you.
-Ludwig

This note was left on Ludwig’s hammer, the day following the duel to decide the fate of Raven’s messenger, in his room at the MacPherson house. Leaving his hammer behind is not only unusual, in the fact that it is always with him, but also a sign that he will return.

The sky in Seattle carries an oppressive sort of weight to it, with the influence of the Wyrm beginning to fall over the city like a curtain on the stage of humanity’s last show. The air felt heavy, and the usually bustling metropolis seemed eerily quiet.

Now called “Rages-Truth” by the Sept, Ludwig walks towards the only place he ever is when not with his pack: the homeless shelter he was brought to when Lynne Miller found him wandering, looking for the truth of the world after he had brutally slain his family…or “jailers”, as he called them. Contemplating the meaning of this new “deed name”, he found himself walking a bit slower than usual, taking in the city around him. Many of the people around him gave off an air of anxiety – with good reason. Countless numbers were already infected with the Red Death, and those who had not already succumbed to the blight were spreading this unnatural disease to those around them.

If the foreshadowing given by the spirit Ludwig encountered in the Umbra wasn’t true, it didn’t matter to him: the evidence was quite clear that this was going to spread far, and many people were going to lose their lives. Not convinced of Pisses-Gold’s defense of the Sept’s lack of response to this epidemic, Ludwig realized that rather than allowing the rage to overcome his ability to reason and deal with the situation where others refused to, that he needed to assess things for himself: he needed to be out with humanity, to see for himself just how dire the situation was. But most of all, for him, he needed to be sure that Lynne was alright.

Navigating the streets purely by instinct while he thought, Ludwig soon found himself at the door of the shelter. As he walked into the lobby, he took pause to notice what seemed like a huge increase in the number of people in the shelter. These people were definitely suffering and impoverished, but none of them seemed to show signs of the blight yet. As he made his way to the front desk, the receptionist – a middle-aged woman of reddish-blonde hair – greeted him on sight.

“Hi there Ludwig! Haven’t seen you in a while! How are you?”

Ludwig replied, “It has been a bit, Beth…sorry about that. I am doing well. Do you know where Lynne is?”

“Of course, dear”, Beth chimed. “She’s in the kitchen helping out with dinner. We have a pretty large crowd today!”

Beth could see what was obvious, but rather than worrying, she was just happy to be there helping these people. She, like so many others volunteering their time at this shelter, was dedicated and eager to help those less fortunate.

“Ok. I’m going to go back there and help out as well. Thanks Beth – it is good to see you.”

Beth smiled. “It’s always so wonderful to see you too, Ludwig! Take care darling.”

As he made his way towards the dining room, it was obvious that the shelter was not going to be able to house all of these people. But Ludwig knew that his friend would do everything she could to take care of each and every person who walked through the doors.

Walking into the dining room, Ludwig immediately caught sight of a beautiful young woman – a tall and slender, yet shapely woman in her mid-twenties, straight red hair falling halfway down her back. As she served the home-cooked meal she had prepared to the four people at the table she stood beside, she looked up, and her emerald eyes lit up in joy.

“Lugwig!”, she chirped, as she set her serving dish and utensils aside, and bolted across the room, throwing her arms around Ludwig’s shoulders and nearly squeezing the life out of him in her embrace.

With a slight, uncharacteristic smile, he wrapped one arm around the woman’s waist, and laid his other hand on the back of her head.

It stank. None were clean, every single Ratkin buzzed with excitement.

In the center of their assembled mass, a dead Metis Werewolf hung, covered with flies, its eyes ripped out.

Obscenities were spray-painted all over the Black Spiral Dancer’s body.
A gaunt Ratkin stood up in front of the trophy. A patchy beard hung down his chin, his body covered in tattooes, each a image taken from the book of revelation, star wars and just plain taunts.

“That’s right!” King Culls-the-Herd pulled out a human forearm, covered in Red Death postules. “Gaia gives us the Red Death! Take to every inch of this shiteating town, you ratfucks! Cull Seattle! SAY MY NAME!”

And the thousand ratkin chanted and chanted and screamed and roared: “Culls-The-Herd! Culls-The-Herd! CULLS-THE-HERD! CULLS-THE-HERD! CULLS-THE-HERD!”

Bonds are Born in Fire and Silver

Our Pack wakes up, greeted by Father Pisses-Gold‘s son, a kinfolk named “Connie” Conrad Pearce. Connie doesn’t seem too bright, has trouble understanding everything asked of him, but is still embraced by most of the pack as a brother in arms.

We learn where most of the Pack sleeps when they stay at the MacPherson House. Pisses-Gold and Little Sister prepare the pack their breakfast, and some discussion begins.

Ludwig Rages-Truth broods up in his room, still thinking on the duel that is coming later in the day.

Screwdriver, on the other hand, tells Connie to bring his breakfast up. He doesn’t want to go out of where he sleeps, the bathroom.

Of course, Helen and Doctor Johnathan Mercy-Bringer come down together. Slays-Names begins to think on how to best determine what exactly Little Sister is, and how much of a threat she might be. The others, however, focus on enjoying breakfast.

Homeless allies of Helen have arrived, and they are very sick, with red pustules all over their bodies. Helen and the Doc get to work, trying to figure out what it is, and how to stop it. The Doc quickly realizes this disease is brand new, and clearly is a very dangerous variant on the Black Death, a “Red Death.” Helen tries to determine if there is some sort of spiritual undercurrent to this disease.

Worse, though, is that Red Death appears to be virulent enough to even sicken a Garou. Both Helen and the Doc try to do their best, and employ Connie to gather needed drugs and medicine. Connie quickly hotwires a car and drives out to get the goods- only after leaving a dumpster on its side in the front yard of the MacPherson House.

Meanwhile, Slays-Names steps sideways, intending to find a local spirit and get a read on Little Sister. Instead, he finds that a cluster of newly born banes are festering all over the umbral reflection of the front yard. He sends Raven off to get Ludwig. After Ludwig arrives, the two of them quickly dispatch the young banes.

It becomes clear to Slays-Names that these banes are a result of the diseased Homeless, and that this Red Death spawned them. Not a good sign for things to come. So, he instead decides to take a look into it as well as Little Sister. He brings Ludwig along with him, and journeys to a nearby umbral locale with ties to Luna.

A local Lune (moon-spirit), a crescent moon half-asleep during this full moon, greets Slays-Names. After an offer of chiminage, the Lune asks Slays-Names what he wants to know:

“This new disease, this ‘Red Death’, how far does it reach? How many are sick with it?”

The Lune departs, promising to return as soon as it learns the answer. Meanwhile, Ludwig asks Slays-Names a few questions on the umbra, learning what he can of the ancestral homelands of the Get of Fenris.

The Lune returns, and informs Slays-Names that the Red Death will:

“By tomorrow, it will have spread to every City and Place of Man on Gaia. Rorg stirs now, because of it, Malfeas rises and the Weaver spins quicker and quicker.”

Slays-Names asks about Little Sister as well, and learns that she is “Child of Dragon.”

Meanwhile, Ashlar finds himself alone with Pisses-Gold and Little Sister. Pisses-Gold tells him that Little Sister now wishes to stay with the Broken, and that she has a service to perform for them. The Prophecy of the Last Klaive cannot be told by any Elder of the Sept to anyone except another Elder…

…But since Little Sister is a Mokole, one of those who acts as the “Memory of Gaia”, she can channel one of her ancestors that heard that prophecy when Stag originally gave it to the founders of the Sept back in 1805.

So, as a loophole, Little Sister can tell the Pack the prophecy, which Pisses-Gold is certain they need to hear. They are interrupted when Doc and Helen come in.

“Pisses-Gold, do you know the Rite of Cleansing? We think we might need it.”

Pisses-Gold frowns for a moment, and gets up. “Of course I do! Come outside, all of you, you might learn something.”

Pisses-Gold then performs the Rite of Cleansing on all of the Homeless allies of Helen, using a Bone Gnawer variant of the rite that is quite heavy on the absinthe. Sad for Connie, who before leaving had been enjoying quite a bit of the stuff.

Once cleansed, the Doc and Helen are fairly certain the meds Connie is retrieving will help them recover as best as possible.

Well, eventually everyone gets back together and the Pack discusses what to do. The Red Death is spreading throughout the entire world, and do they need to do something?

Ludwig demands that they take some sort of action, especially turning on Father Pisses-Gold.

Before Slays-Names can say or do anything, Ludwig leaves, with the Doc behind. They are going to try and get the Elders to do something or so help them…

At Fong’s, they find Kataryna, but she is only willing to talk to the Doc, as both of them are Silver Fangs. Ludwig learns from Pisses-Gold what Kataryna thinks of the Red Death- a way to help cull humanity down. She sees no reason to try and interfere with it. Pisses-Gold is angry with this as well, especially with Kataryna sending the Wendigo off to fight the Black Spiral Dancers.

Kataryna asks Doc what he thinks she should do about the current situation; Doctor Johnathan doesn’t feel that he has anything useful to advise. She informs him that he and his pack are to immediately show so that they can conduct the duel “and all this shit with the Wereraven done and over. We need to be working on more important things.”

So Doctor Johnathan reports back to the rest of the Pack. Meanwhile, Ludwig goes down into the Caern in order to find Duncan, his mentor, and ask him about whats going on. Ludwig, it seems, has a issue with this whole situation.

Ludwig confronts Duncan, and causes his mentor to hesitate about the duel. Duncan has been setting up the Heart of the Caern for the duel for the life of the Wereraven. Duncan at first is excited for the fight, but his talk with Ludwig seems to lower his excitement some.

The pack comes into the Caern, as does the rest of the Sept. And they begin the ceremonial trial by combat to decide the fate of the wereraven.

Unbeknowst to the Sept, Slays-Names lets Ellie go- she asks him:

“Anything you wish for those in Spokane to know?”

He replies: “The betrayers are close, we are close, to getting them.”

“Long live Clan MacPherson,” Ellie exclaims, before shifting into Raven form and flying away…

Once together, the Sept announces its champion: “Ludwig.”
And for the raven, the Broken have their own Ahroun step forward, Mercy-Bringer. This shocks the Silver Fangs of the Sept, causing them to reconsider.

The two agree to fight in Crinos, in the waist deep water on the rocks of the Heart of the Caern.

They wait for Stag to announce the start of the duel…

Mercy-Bringer moves first, using a gift to cause his hair to move in a breeze, then he shifts immediately into Crinos.
Ludwig shifts into Crinos, and tries to kick Mercy-Bringer in the face.

Connie tries to stop the fight, but a angry Duncan holds him in place- Slays-Names joins Stag and

Raven in the Umbra, watching the fight from the otherside. He holds Ludwig’s hammer and Klaive- and the Klaive seems to ‘like’ Slays-Names’ presence. Like it was familiar and approved of him.

The fight continues, back and forth, until Ludwig knocks Mercy-Bringer over. But Mercy-Bringer refuses to surrender- so Ludwig instead bares his throat and turns his barely controlled fury on the Sept-(paraphrasing):

“You dare let packmates fight? This is OUR territory: raven and all his children are OUR territory respect that! I surrender because it should never have gotten this fucking far!”

And as those words echo, the chapter closes with our Pack earning a tiny bit more respect from their Sept, for now.

The Pack is Thicker than Blood

They are coming! The next sign is upon us! The Machine Awakes and Malfeas is set to make war upon the Pattern Web.

Slays-Names works to free Ellie from the Wendigo, insulting them and escalating the situation to try and get Ellie out of the situation.
Oaksong calls for some sort of “compromise.” Kataryna the Deathless calls for the Elders to confer with her privately for a moment.
The Sept Leader instead states: "We cannot take her Wyrm-Taint lightly. She will leave before the Moot begins. As for verifying her message, we will hold her in custody until we are certain she can believed.
“Tomorrow night, this Wereraven will have the chance to defend herself in a Trial by Combat. That night, we will let Gaia decide whose claim is stronger. Duncan? You will choose who will represent the Sept and face this Wereraven.”

Meanwhile, Ludwig Rages-Truth, Claire and Screwdriver are walking the umbra, still escorting Little Sister back to the Sept. The umbra here is flat, foggy and the occasional puddle of water litters the ground.
Off in the distance, a wave of water flows toward the four of them. Screwdriver, protective as ever, takes Claire and Little Sister with him, side stepping immediately back into the material world. They arrive a hundred feet in the air. Screwdriver, however, acts quick, using his Catfeet gift to slow their fall.
Ludwig doesn’t back down though. Even though Screwdriver fleeing pisses him off, Ludwig confronts the wave that inbound at him. The comes to a stop in front of Ludwig, and forms into the body of a fifteen foot tall woman, her body made of water, sea foam and seaweed.
The Spirit, clearly some sort of ocean spirit, gives a bunch of signing and motions- some sort of message- to Ludwig, and shows him a image of Slays-Names. He leaves confused, deciding to relay this to Slays-Names, and figure out what to do from there.

Doctor Johnathan “Mercy Bringer” Roth and Helen sneaked out to go get some Tacos, that’s what they remember last when they wake up in cages, in a lab. Mercy-Bringer wakes first, recognizing the drugs in his system, resisting them with his best concentration.
Its fully stocked lab, with many man-sized cages, beds, IV drips, and steel mirrors installed in the walls.
“And here we have our latest subjects.”
Three scientists enter and ignore most of what Mercy-Bringer says. The lead scientist, a Dr. Lawrence, explains that they are “victims” of the Genetic Lycanthropic Syndrome (GSL), and that their organization, DNA inc, is devoted to curing victims such as themselves.
Back at the Sept, Slays-Names and Ashlar take Ellie out of the Sept. The rain outside Fong’s had stopped, and Slays gets ready to plan how to find the rest of their pack.
That’s when Screwdriver, a la Mary Poppins, drops down from the sky with the injured Claire and Little Sister.
A moment later, Ludwig materializes as well, but he winds up crashing into the top of a tree. He climbs down, rejoining the Pack. He tells Slays what Song-of-the-Ocean told him. Slays and Ashlar decipher the spirit’s meaning:
Song-of-the-Ocean knows where Helen and Mercy-Bringer are.
Screwdriver uses his pack awareness gift to give Slays a direction to head in. They move out, leaving Little Sister to Father Pisses-Gold and let Claire and Ellie recover back at the MacPherson House.

Slays and the Pack look for their missing packmates. They come to a pier near downtown Seattle that Song-of-the-Ocean had shown Ludwig. They step sideways into the umbra, and find themselves standing atop a few rocks poking out of the ocean, next to the deep webs of downtown Seattle’s Penumbral reflection.
Song-of-the-Ocean appears, and informs Slays of how Mercy-Bringer and Helen were captured by odd men and taken to the new DNA lab building nearby. As Mercy-Bringer and Helen escape, the rest of the pack helps them get away from endless hordes of Pattern Spiders descending down on them.

The Broken, now reunited, get back to the Moot at the Cave of Howling Storms. During the end of the Moot, we learn a couple of things: Ludwig has been invited by Duncan Thrashes-Eyes fight for the Sept against Ellie. At Raven’s suggestion, Mercy-Bringer volunteers to fight for Ellie, as her Champion.

And Ludwig lets them know that he is fighting for the Sept, well thinking about it…

Guess who came to dinner?

Last Tales of the Broken: Chapter ONEMoon Phase: Full Moon (Ahroun take a -1 penalty on rolls to resist frenzy).

Our pack have been split into two groups, one back at the Sept, while the other went to meet an ally of Father Pisses-Gold (Bone Gnawer Sept Elder). Technically three, since the location of some other members remains unclear/unknown.

GM’s Commentary

This was our very first session.
Idea was, I needed to keep people
from getting bored quickly. So
I split ’em up. That simple.

Its based on an idea I got from
John Wick and his book Playing
Dirty. One of his ideas, to me,
is the idea of player collaboration,
which I’m fairly certain he’s inter-
preting on somebody’s idea and so
forth. Core idea: One person can
write and think up a decent adventure
/module. Two can do better, three
can do even better. So, the more
people collaborating ideas, the
better the end result is. Part of
this involves giving PCs NPCs to
play- a chance for a player to be
in a scene, a combat, what-have-you
without ever being ‘left bored.’

Problem with this session was, like
many of my NPC attempts in the past,
I bungled part of the delivery- at
least one Player kinda got stuck with
a noncombatant, the environment was
kind of stale and oh, I felt like
editing out some of the more disgusting
ideas thrown around. I learned my
lesson, give PCs active, useful NPCs to play. Critical to the play.

The missing members of the Pack
are Helen and Dr. Johnathan. What
happened to them will probably be
covered in the next session put up
here. I hope to come back at some
point and better flesh out some details
here and there… but for the most part,
this is accurate. Prophecy is about
to rear its ugly mug, and steer our
story toward its horrible, terrible
conclusions.

-Josh, August 29, 2012

At the MacPherson House, Ashlar and Slays-Names get ready for the evening’s moot at the Caern. Everyone else in the Pack is missing, and they set about trying to find them. Slays-Names gets in contact with some Wereravens, finding out that some of his pack went south to North Bend. Ashlar, meanwhile, headed to Fong’s Bar And Deli to try and ask Pisses-Gold directly about what happened.

Screwdriver, Ludwig and Claire arrive at a Taco Time, which according to Screwdriver, is where they needed to meet this ally of Pisses-Gold. They lie their way into the Taco Time, just as a Biker Gang (The Sons of the Dragon) show up. The leader of the Bikers picks a fight with Ludwig; it doesn’t end well when Ludwig frenzies and eviscerates the man into three large pieces. Claire talks him down, and the three of them try to get out there.

Slays-Names meets Ellie O’Neill, a Corax who has a very important message to deliever to the entire Sept. Slays-Names, with more intention on trying to find his packmates, heads to Fong’s to find Pisses-Gold. Ellie informs him that she heard from another Corax that a pack of Werewolves was heading south, toward North Bend. At Fong’s, Slays-Names and Ashlar decide to go down into the Caern to try and find Pisses-Gold. They find him, and learn where their packmates are and why.

Slays-Names and Ashlar use Raven to get an idea of the progress of the others, just as the Sept gathers en masse at Fong’s. They, along with Pisses-Gold, chat among the others, despite harassment from some of the Elders (especially Duncan). Never-Tires, Wendigo Elder, also arrives.

Then things get a bit bloody.

The Wendigo pack, The Screamers, show up with at least one of their pack covered in Balefire wounds. Duncan turns on Ellie, recognizing how convenient it was for her to arrive just as this happens. The Sept heads for the Caern, deciding to wait for the Sept Leader before making a decision. Oaksong suggests putting Ellie in chains to be safe.

Claire, Screwdriver, and Ludwig escort Little Sister through the Tunnels, coming to a locale in the Seattle Umbra called the Rock Forest. Black Spiral Dancers ambush them, trying to lure Ludwig to return home with them. But the BSD are mostly Metis cannon fodder, too insane to keep from flying into frenzy. They handle them, but not without some serious injury and scars to some of their number.

At the Cave of Howling Storms, Ashlar and Slays-Names witness Kataryna’s arrival. Through verbal and physical abuse, they make Ashlar use his Sense Wyrm gift on the Wereraven. He senses strong Wyrm-taint on Ellie, but that doesn’t necessarily make her corrupted- an item she carries could have the taint.

So, the Sept strips her naked and begins to interrogate her. Starting to grow enraged, Slays-Names intervenes and tries to get her to say her message, to explain why she had come. He even bites someone’s hand to give her the chance to talk.

And we end the chapter just before Ellie is going to share her message, just beginning with the phrase- “They are coming!”